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BY 
ROSE STANDISH NICHOLS 
Author of “ English Pleasure Gardens” 


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 


BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
The Riverside Press Cambridge 







1924 
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COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY ROSE STANDISH N 


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


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The Riverside Press 


CAMBRIDGE - MASSACHUSETTS 


PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 





IN MEMORY OF 
MY FATHER 
ARTHUR HOWARD NICHOLS 
WHOSE ENTHUSIASM FOR SPAIN 
FIRST AROUSED MY INTEREST 
IN ITS TREASURES 





CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 
I. Tue OriteEnTAL BackGRounpD 
II. Moorisu INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 
III. On THE Istanp or Majorca 
IV. THe CioisTer-GarTH 
V. RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 
VI. Some SMALLER GARDENS AND ParTIOos 
VII. EtcoTeentH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 
VIII. Mopern GarpDEns — 
IX. Tue PortTuGuEseE PLEASAUNCE 
X. ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 
XI. Living Matertar 
Books or REFERENCE 


INDEX 


X1l1 





ILLUSTRATIONS 


AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GARDEN Frontispiece 
A GARDEN AT GERONA, PAINTED BY S. RuSINOL XV 
THE Stairway AT Ex Raxa XV1l 
THE Poot aT THE QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA XE 
TEMPLE AT EnpD or Watk, Et LABERINTO XXII 
An EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FORMAL GARDEN IN INDIA XXV1l 
Paseo DE LAS DELiciAs DE Maprip, BAYEN XX1X 
PASEO, JARDIN DE LA IsLa, ARANJUEZ, BAYEN OE 


A PLEASURE BOAT ABOUT 2000 B.C. 


LOGGIA OVERLOOKING GARDEN, ABOUT 2000 B.C. 


A PERSIAN PRINCE UNDER A CANOPY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY 9 
MuHAMMED SHAH RIDING IN A ForRMAL GARDEN i 
INDIAN GarpEN-PAviLions 15 
Humay in A CHINESE GARDEN AT NIGHT uy, 
A Persian TERRACE 1g 
A Persian PRINCE IN A GARDEN-PAVILION aN 
MoortsH Fountain, Court oF CATHEDRAL, SEVILLE 31 
Locoia AND Patio DE ACEQUIA, GENERALIFE 39 
PATH TO THE GENERALIFE 42 
PATIO DE LA ACEQUIA, GENERALIFE 43 


PaTIO DE Los CIPRESES, GENERALIFE 46 


x ILLUSTRATIONS 
Mrrapor, GENERALIFE GARDENS 

PATIO DE LOS ARRAYANES 

Patio DE Daraxa, ALHAMBRA 

THe MeEsaquiTa or Ext PARTAL 

PaTIo DE Los CIPRESES, ALHAMBRA 

THE Patio at Et Raxa 

Tue Recrory or San Lorenzo, Majorca 

THE ARCHBISHOP’S GARDEN, PALMA 

A STAIRWAY AT BENDINAT 

THE SUMMIT OF THE STAIRWAY, EL Raxa 

THE Topmost TERRACE, EL Raxa 

THE Larce REseErvorr, Et Raxa 

THe Larce REservorr, EL Raxa (another view) 
A PERGOLA AT ALFABIA 

ENTRANCE TO Patio, ALFABIA 

FouNTAIN, ALFABIA 

A PErGoLA aT La GRANJA DE ForTUNY 

A PERGOLA OVER A WELL AT CANET 

A Group OF ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AT CANET 
CLoIsTERS, VALLDEMOSA, PAINTED BY S. RuSINOL 
MONTSERRAT, PAINTED BY S. RuSINOL 
CroisTerRsS, MonaAsTERY, BANOLAS 

CLOISTERS, SAN PABLO 


A Fountain, CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS, BARCELONA 


IOI 


103 


ILLUSTRATIONS x1 


WELL IN CLOISTERS, CISTERCIAN CONVENT, PEDRALBES 107 
CLOISTERS, CISTERCIAN CONVENT, PEDRALBES I10 
Fountain House, PoBLetr T12 
CLOISTERS, CONVENT OF SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA nL 
CLOISTERS, SANTO TomAs, AVILA 11g 
FounTAIN PaviILIon, GUADALUPE 120 
FOUNTAIN AND Cypress WALK, THE ALCAZAR [22 
_ Fountain AND BENCHES, ALCAZAR GARDENS 12h 
GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 128 
Poo. oF JUANA AND PaviILion oF CHarRLes V 129 
PAVILION OF JUANA THE Map, THE ALCAZAR - ieee 
Patio DE Los EVANGELISTAS, ESCORIAL 133 
ARANJUEZ, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 136 
JARDIN DE LA IsLa, ARANJUEZ 138 
JARDIN DE LA IsLa, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 139 
Tue Fountain oF NEPTUNE AT La GRANJA 145 
Patio, Los VENERABILES, SEVILLE 154 
Patio, MusEo PRovINcIAL, PAINTED BY A. GRosso 156 
A Patio, GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 157 
A FounTAIN IN A Patio, THE. ALCAZAR 158 
Patio, SEMINARIO, SANTIAGO 159 
Patio aT THE CarTuyA, VALLDEMOSA 161 
THe Flower GARDEN AT Ex LaBERINTO 165 


ENTRANCE TO GARDENS, Et LABERINTO 168 


xii ILLUSTRATIONS 


A Poot at Ext LABERINTO 

THE LaByRINTH AT EL LABERINTO 

STraiRWAY, EL LABERINTO 

Tue PaviLion AND REsErvorR, EL LABERINTO 
TERRACE, Et LABERINTO 

THE GARDEN AT Casa GOMEZ 

THE GARDEN AT TorrE GLORIES 

ReEsERvorRr, Quinta CaMEROSA, Oca 

JARDINES DE LAS DELICIAS, SEVILLE | 

Jarpin DE Monrorte, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 

A GLORIETA, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 

GARDEN OF THE CONDE ee GUELL, BY S. RusINOL 
THE Upper GARDEN AT THE CASA DEL GRECO 
GARDEN, CASA DEL GRECO, TOLEDO 

ParQuE DE Maria Luisa, SEVILLE 

MurILLo GARDENS, SEVILLE 

THE PALACE AND GARDEN, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 
THE TERRACE AND CHAPEL, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 
TERRACE AND Pool, Quinta DE FRONTEIRA 

A Fountain, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 

PARAPET SEATS, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 

THE GARDEN wk ate Monastery OF SAo Domincos 
Tue Upper Poot, QuiInTA DE FRONTEIRA 


THE GARDEN AT LARANJEIRAS 


211 


218 


ILLUSTRATIONS xl 


THE PERGOLA IN FRONT OF THE SWIMMING-POoOL, LARAN- 


JEIRAS 214 
THE Forecourt, PALACE Or PALHAVA 216 
SWIMMING-PooL aT LARANJEIRAS Pu 
THE Roya PALace AT QUELUZ 219 
TERRACE AND FOUNTAIN, QUELUZ 290 
THE Poo. oF THE Swans, Roya PALace, CINTRA 223 
SALA DE CONSELHO, Roya PAtace, CINTRA 224 
A HILusipE CHAPEL, PENHA VERDE 2 
A Batuinc-Poot at EspLucuEs DE LLOBREGAT 233 
Reservoir, Torre FIGUEROLA, NEAR BARCELONA Pes 
Fountain, Cistercian Monastery, MOnrERO 236 
FounTAIN, Patacio CAMEROSA, OcA Deg 
Lion, PaviLion or JUANA 238 
A WELL aT THE HERMITAGE OF Los ANGELES 239 
Watt Fountatn, Patacio CAMEROSA 241 
A Wa tt Fountain, Roya PAtace, CINTRA 243 
PaviILion OF CHARLES V, ALCAZAR GARDENS 245 


A BrIDGE ACROSS THE RESERVOIR, JARDINES DE CAMEROSA, 


Oca : 247 
Reja, CiorsTErs, TOLEDO CATHEDRAL Dash 
A WIinvow IN THE WALL, ALCAZAR GARDENS on 
An ArcHway, ALCAZAR GARDENS ONG 


Baroque ARCHITECTURE, Casa Gomez, Horta 259 


XIV ILLUSTRATIONS 


A PErRGOLA AT SanTA Maria, Majorca 260 
A PERGOLA AT ALFABIA 261 
SEMICIRCULAR SEAT, TORRE GLORIES 263 
PAvILION OVER WELL, HospiTat REAL, SANTIAGO 265 
TERRACE, Et LABERINTO, Horta 267 
FouNTAIN AND GROTTO, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 269 


A Tite PicrurE AND FAaiENCE SCULPTURE, QUINTA DE 


FRONTEIRA 270 
STONE BALUSTRADE, QUELUZ oy 
A GREEN ALLEY AT LARANJEIRAS 7G 
A STANDARD Rose, QuINTA DE FRONTEIRA Dag ps 
GARDEN, Sao Domincos 279 
Tue HEART OF THE LABYRINTH 280 
Cypress ARCHES, ALCAZAR GARDENS 281 
A GLorieTa OF ANCIENT CYypRESSES, HorTA 283 
THE Enp or A Vista, Et LaBERINTO 285 


_A FounTAIN IN THE GARDENS AT QUELUZ 286 





A GARDEN AT GERONA, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 


INTRODUCTION 


From the standpoint of a garden architect the Iberian 
Peninsula is an undiscovered country. While the gardens 
of France, England, and Italy have been visited, de- 
scribed, and catalogued over and over again, with few 
exceptions those of Spain and Portugal, though equally 
beautiful, remain practically unknown. A list of the 
books that have helped me to learn a little about them 
will be found at the end of this volume, but neither a 
history of, nor a guide to, the public or the private 
pleasure-grounds of these last two countries has ever been 


xvi INTRODUCTION 


published. The only records that give us much idea of 
their number and their charm are Gothein’s Geschichte 
der Gartenkunst and the volumes containing reproduc- 
tions of paintings by the distinguished Catalan painter 
Santiago Rusinol. When I went abroad in the winter 
of 1924 to try to study the best examples of Spanish 
and Portuguese gardens, I was much handicapped, there- 
fore, by lack of information, and had to pick it up as 
best I could upon the spot, so I regret that I have not 
been able to cover the ground completely. Indeed, no 
record can be final, for every day new creations are 
springing into existence and others are fading from sight. 

My task was made less difficult owing to the untiring 
assistance given me by my travelling companion, Mrs. 
Sterling Frost, and to the unfailing courtesy that I was 
shown on every hand. At the very start, when I arrived 
at Barcelona, Don Miguel Utrillo, the well-known painter 
and architect, hastened to come to the rescue. His wide- 
spread acquaintance with the people and with the archi- 
tecture of his country was of the greatest possible value 
to me. Through his introductions I was privileged, by 
the kindness of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Toledo, to 
visit some rarely accessible convents there, and also re- 
ceived permission from the Marquesa de Alfarras to go 
over her beautiful gardens at E/ Laberinto, near Barce- 
lona. Another of my informants was the French land- 
scape architect, Monsieur J. C. N. Forestier, who has 
laid out extensive public pleasure-grounds at Barcelona 


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THE STAIRWAY AT EL RAXA 


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YL? 


~qare 





INTRODUCTION XIX 


and Seville, besides some charming private gardens there 
and at Ronda. 

Before going to the Island of Majorca, my friend the 
Boston architect, Gordon Allen, had given me an en- 
thusiastic description of the ancient and romantic gar- 
dens he had recently visited there. The journey in a 
comfortable steamboat takes twelve hours from Barce- 
lona and a few hours longer from Valencia. Upon my 
arrival at the fascinating seaport, Palma de Majorca, 
I fell into the kind hands of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick 
Chamberlin, Americans whose devotion to the island 
has led them to adopt it as a second home and to become 
real authorities as to its past and present attractions. 

At Madrid, a letter from Ralph Adams Cram, an ar- 
dent lover of Spain, brought a kindly response from the 
Marqués de la Vega Inclan, President of the Comisaria 
Regia del Turismo y Cultura Artistica, of Spain. This 
society has been organized to help tourists to see and 
understand Spanish art and architecture. It publishes a 
series of monographs regarding places of especial interest 
from this viewpoint and manages to open to privileged 
enthusiasts doors that would otherwise remain closed. 
The Marqués de la Vega Inclan has been made an honor- 
ary member of the Hispanic Society of America, not 
merely on account of his learning, but because of his 
generous efforts to assist Americans in many ways. Miss 
Margaret Palmer, corresponding member of the Carnegie 
Art Institute of Pittsburgh, who keeps in touch with 


aaK INTRODUCTION 


modern developments in Spanish art, gave me some in- 
valuable introductions and advice, before I left Castile 
and took the interesting journey through desolate La 
Mancha to smiling Andalusia and to Granada, with its 
dramatic contrasts between the solemn grandeur of the 
rocky mountains and the luxuriant subtropical vegeta- 
tion on the undulating plains. 

There is a school of vigorous young artists and archi- 
tects in Seville, who are doing some of the best modern 
work in Europe to-day. One of their number, a brilliant 
painter, Alfredo Grosso, has exhibited pictures in Amer- 
ica under the auspices of the Carnegie Art Institute, and 
helped me to appreciate how strongly Moorish traditions 
still influence modern Spanish architecture. Don Gon- 
zalo Bilbao, another artist, whose paintings have been 
admired in America, arranged for me to visit some of the 
Sevillan palaces, with classic patios and lovely gardens. 

Although Portugal can be reached easily from the 
United States now that several lines of steamers run 
directly from American ports to Lisbon, it seems in- 
finitely remote. The influx of travellers is chiefly from 
England, and few have ventured there from across the 
Atlantic. English writers, notably H. G. Wells, John 
Galsworthy, and A. $8. M. Hutchinson, who have recently 
wintered at Mt. Estoril, are soon likely to lead others 
to enjoy one of the best winter climates in Europe, in a 
country of great natural beauty. 

Portuguese architecture shows Moorish influence, and 


INTRODUCTION XXxl 








aE POOL AT THE QUINTADE FRONTEIRA 


has developed along original and very interesting lines. 
The use of color on the walls of the houses is daring but 
very successful in many instances. The diversity of the 
tiles and the manifold ways that they are used to em- 
bellish garden architecture are also surprising. Ralph 
Adams Cram has well pointed out the reasons why 
architects should make more use of color on the outside 
as well as in the interior of buildings. 

The greatest revelation of all to me, on a trip where 
unexpected thrills of pleasure came in almost too rapid 
succession, was the mellow charm of the eighteenth- 


XXll INTRODUCTION 


century villas. This style of architecture is admirably 
adapted to our needs, especially in a mild climate like 
that of Georgia or California, but it could also be used, 
with very slight modifications, in the more northern 
parts of the United States. The main lines of the build- 
ings are simple, the construction is solid, and the de- 
tail is treated with a freedom and an originality that 
produce an effect of comfort combined with gaiety. The 
same delightful sentiment and a sort of bland apprecia- 
tion of the good things of life prevailed in the gardens 
of this period, and have lasted, in spite of wars and eco- 
nomic vicissitudes, up to the present day. 
For, in countries which we are accustomed to chink 
can base their claims to glory only on the past, the love 
of tradition has not destroyed the power to create new 
forms of art and architecture. Both in Spain and in 
Portugal new gardens and houses are springing up as 
if by magic. They may be smaller than their earlier 
prototypes, but they are not less gay and charmingly 
unselfconscious.. I wish that Don Javier de Winthuy- 
sen, the well-known landscape architect, whom I met 
in Madrid, could come to lecture to students in this 
country, not only about the great historical gardens of 
Spain, but concerning the splendid work that he and 
many others are doing to make new constructions that 
fit harmoniously into their environment. 
Although my journey lasted only a short time, the 
results of my experience may help to simplify the way 





Mas 


TEMPLE AT END OF WALK, EL LABERINTO 





INTRODUCTION XXV 


for others eager to start on a similar quest. At least I 
can assure them that nowhere are there purer sources 
of inspiration for garden-lovers looking for ideas that 
can be carried out on a very moderate, or, indeed, on 
a humble scale. While the subjects are comparatively 
few, the variety in their treatment is endlessly rich. A 
few photographs from Senor Rusinol’s pictures will show 
some of the more salient features that have for him a 
loveliness that appeals, both to the eye and to the soul. 
His preference is for the gardens of the past, and he has 
described them, not only with his brush, but in words 
that have deep significance. 

‘“A garden,’ Rusinol explains, ‘is a country-place 
in verse, and the verses are decreasing on every side.”’ 
So he has travelled through all the provinces, making 
records on canvas of what has impressed him most. To 
quote him again: “Like poetic oases on the plains of 
Spain, you will meet the gardens which I have gleaned 
before they disappeared. Long was the walk to find them. 
For every tuft of green which you find near an old house, 
whether in the depths of a valley or in the shelter of a 
mountain-side, you will pass for hours and hours through 
wilderness and desert. For every leafy branch there are 
vast solitudes and sterile plains; for every flower, count- 
less miles of land without any grass, without the sign of 
a tree, without sound of a fountain, without refuge for 
the human being who seeks repose from the burning sun. 
... The old gardens are dying, but dying with so much 


XXVI1 INTRODUCTION 


dignity that with their passing away a new poetry en- 
velops them in harmony with their dissolution.” 

The illustrations are derived from many sources. Be- 
sides expressing my gratitude to Senor Rusinol for 
several of them, I wish to thank for the use of other 
photographs Senoras B. Ferra and M. Reyes, Senores 
A. Linares, Roig, Moreno, Mas, Trujol, Grosso, and 
Garzon, also the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New 
York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The rest I 
took myself or had taken especially for me by Senor Mas, 
of Barcelona, Senor Trujol, of Palma, and Mr. Lazarus, 
of Lisbon, under my direction. 

Spanish vegetation suffers from being subjected to 
great extremes of heat and cold. In the north the winters 
are often severe, and even in the south there are occa- 
sional snowstorms. The summers, on the other hand, 
are extremely hot, and the sun parches the flowers unless 
they can be kept well watered and protected from its 
rays. Broad-leaved evergreens, however, can be grown 
in great variety. Box-edging withstands both heat and 
cold. Orange- and lemon-trees are covered with fruit 
and flowers, despite a background of snow-capped moun- 
tain-peaks. Spain is essentially a land of contrasts. 

Flower-beds, therefore, are outlined with box, ac- 
cented with oleanders, laurels, or tall, slender cypresses. 
Enclosures are often formed by well-clipped evergreen 
hedges or by massive walls. Water is a vital necessity 
and always appears in abundance. Large reservoirs, 


VIGNI NI NAdUVO TVWYOd AYNALNAO-HLNAALHOId NV 








INTRODUCTION XX1X 





PASEO DE LAS DELICIAS DE MADRID. BY BAYEN 


resembling our swimming-pools, are very common. Rivu- 
lets run in stone gutters along the surface of the ground 
and fountains throw up sprays of water to moisten the 
air. Steps, balustrades, and pavilions are among the 
interesting architectural features which I should like 
to describe later in detail. There is everywhere an ab- 
sence of sharp corners. The stone-work soon becomes 
weather-worn. Lichens spread over the vases and statu- 
ary. Soft greens and grays dominate the color-scheme, 
relieved by a touch of flaming-red pomegranate blossoms 
or golden-yellow mimosa. 

The time to see most of these gardens at their best 
is in April or May or the early autumn. Majorca, Va- 
lencia, Andalusia, and Portugal are also very beautiful 


XXX INTRODUCTION 





PASEO, JARDIN DE LA ISLA, ARANJUEZ. BY BAYEN 


in February or March when the almond- and the peach- 
trees have come into bloom. Since the backbone of the 
planting is formed by evergreens and the architectural 
features are numerous, the design never becomes wholly 
obliterated. Each section of the country has developed 
a style of its own, but all are founded on certain tra- 
ditions that they have in common, inherited chiefly 
from the Visigoths and the Moors. Like Spanish art, 
the gardens went through phases that might be classi- 
fied as Hispano-Moorish, Christian Moorish or Mudejar, 
French, Italian, and typically Spanish Renaissance, al- 
ways strongly colored by the local atmosphere. 


INTRODUCTION XXX 


Many of these lovely spots seem haunted by departed 
spirits. Who can visit the Generalife without seeing vi- 
sions of turbaned Emirs and lovely sultanas enjoying the 
air upon the terraces or mournfully leaving all its de- 
lights when driven forth into exile? Unquestionably the 
superb cloisters of the Escorial would fail to cast such a 
gloom over even the most casual tourist if he could forget 
that they had once sheltered unhappy Philip II, seeking 
peace for his soul in monastic seclusion. Pleasanter asso- 
ciations enhance the bright parterres and shady alleys at 
Aranjuez, and perhaps it is as well not to have our eyes 
opened to the bitterness that lay behind the merrymak- 
ing there as exposed in the proverbs illustrated by Goya. 
His tapestries and those of Bayen show how much their 
contemporaries lived in the open air. The representation 
of the Paseo de las Delicias, with the world of fashion 
pacing up and down, needs but a change of costume to 
make it true to the life on many an alameda to-day. 


~y 





SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE 
| GARDENS 


Cla eyet listen WE 
THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND 


THE mysterious beauty illuminating the pleasure-gardens 
of Spain and Portugal will not fail to impress even 
a casual visitor, but no one can truly appreciate either 
spirit or substance without some knowledge of their 
interesting derivation. Early in the eighth century 
East and West met in battle on the Iberian Peninsula. 
A small force of brave Moslems easily defeated the weak 
and divided Christians and gained control of the coun- 
try. Subsequently the conquering Arab leaders treated 
the vanquished Visigoths and the other inhabitants 
of the invaded territory with such magnanimity that 
soon, notwithstanding their differences of race and re- 
ligion, they all settled down peaceably to work together 
for their common welfare. Assimilating the best of each 
other’s ideas, they combined to lay the foundations of a 
new and striking school of art. The Arabs had acquired 
their knowledge of architecture from what they had seen 
and learned in Egypt and Persia. To be intelligible, 
therefore, any account of Spanish and Portuguese gar- 


2- SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE (GA RD Bins 


dens must begin with a description of those prototypes 
in the Near East that have served as sources of inspir- 
ation. 

At the dawn of civilization the peoples grouped on the 
eastern shores of the Mediterranean, in the neighborhood 
of the probable site of the Garden of Eden, were the first 
to express a worship for nature and a love of beauty 
in forms that still command our highest admiration. 
Among these pioneers the Egyptians flourished long be- 
fore the Christian Era, and, later, the Persians and the 
Arabs. From an artistic standpoint the temples, the 
tombs, and the palaces that they erected many centuries 
ago, remain unsurpassed and destroy any illusions as to 
our modern superiority in architectural achievement. 

Continuity characterizes Oriental civilization, so the 
present clearly helps us to reconstruct its past. Sir John 
Chardin well points out, in his seventeenth-century book 
of travels, ‘“‘that it is not in Asia as in our Europe, where 
there are frequent changes in the forms of things, as the 
habits, buildings, gardenings, and the like. In the East 
they are constant in all things. The habits are at this day 
in the same manner as in the precedent ages; so that one 
may reasonably believe that in that part of the world the 
exterior forms of things (as their manners and customs) 
are the same now as they were two thousand years since, 
except in such changes as may have been introduced by 
religion, which are nevertheless very inconsiderable.”’ 

The important part played by religion in the gardens 


THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND 3 


of Asia is little understood in the West. While some of 
the architectural features and sculpture, such as statues 
of the gods and shrines for their worship, obviously had 
religious significance, it is hard to grasp that Nature 
was literally adored as a divine manifestation and that 
water, trees, shrubs, and flowers were actually. wor- 
shipped or regarded as sacred, either as symbols of the 
gods or as national emblems. Monastic cloisters still con- 
tain a Way of the Cross intended to promote pious medi- 
tation, but any attempt at religious symbolism in our 
pleasure-grounds (graveyards can hardly be included 
here under that head) would be regarded as meaningless, 
or despised as the height of affectation. We may say that 
we believe that God is everywhere, still outside of our 
churches we do not like to be constantly reminded of His 
Presence as were the Orientals thousands of years ago, 
and as they continue to be wherever they are free to 
practice their religion openly. 

Egyptian civilization is the earliest of which we have 
any full and reliable records. Within the last hundred 
years buildings, inscriptions, paintings, and sculpture 
have been discovered that help us to enter into the lives 
of the people dwelling on the banks of the Nile. Recent 
excavations have made us especially familiar with the 
brief and dramatic career of King Akhenaten, the founder 
of a new religion and the builder of the *‘ City of the Hori- 
zon,” or Akhetaten, at El-Amarneh. In this city and its 
suburbs have been found traces of many gardens both 


4. SPANISH AND PORTUGUES RSGARDENG 





A PLEASURE BOAT ABOUT 2000 B.C. 


large and small. Sometimes where massive walls have 
crumbled into indistinguishable dust, the removal of 
a few inches of sand blown there from the desert has 
disclosed the mud borders encasing flower-beds and the 
hollows scooped out for artificial pools retaining, on their 
mud floors, the impress of innumerable lotus and papyrus 
plants. 

In Oriental language the words for a ‘“‘garden,” or its 
synonym on a large scale, a ‘‘ paradise,” clearly signified 
some sort of an enclosure. The beautiful grounds sur- 
rounding the important residences in the “City of the 
Horizon”’ were always enclosed by high walls. A visitor 

would usually enter through a lofty and massive gateway, 


THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND ; 


covered by pictorial representations and inscriptions, 
with an opening barely wide enough to admit a two- 
horse chariot. Here might be also the porter’s lodge and 
a reception-room. Inside the enclosure a straight walk 
would lead up to the house, its gaily frescoed walls half- 
hidden by trees. Only part of the grounds at a time 
would meet the eye, for they were laid out in a series of 
walled subdivisions. In some of these, vegetables may 
have dominated; in others, flowers, shrubs, or trees. 
Under the scorching summer sun and in the dry season 
an ample irrigation system was essential, involving large 
reservoirs of water and wells worked by long wooden 
poles. Tanks, fish-ponds, and canals were numerous and 
often of decorative appearance. From the surface of the 
water rose many-colored lotuses, cherished not only for 
their beauty, but for their fragrance, and reverenced as 
the mystical abode of departed spirits, besides being 
symbolic of life, immortality, and resurrection. Shady 
walks were provided by double rows of fruit-trees, palms, 
and sacred sycamores, supposedly inhabited by various 
deities. Vine-covered pergolas also afforded protection 
from the sun. | 

Every one was fond of living out of doors, and various 
architectural features served to make this agreeable. 
Broad loggias were attached to the houses and airy kiosks, 
with carved wooden columns, were placed near the pools 
and in other attractive spots. Banquets were often given 
in these open-air pavilions. Flowers decked the food, and 


6) “SPANISH AND» PORTUGUESE“ GARDENS 


the guests, wearing garlands around their necks and 
carrying lotuses in their hands, would politely invite each 
other to inhale the fragrance of a blossom as an especial 
compliment. If it was an evening party, the white lotus 
would be in request, as it opens at night, while the blue 
one unfolds itself in the daytime. Musicians and dancers 
added to the festivity of the occasion. 

Several examples of this type of garden connected 
with the larger dwellings have been found at Thebes 
as well as at Akhenaten’s new capital. The sculptured 
scenes in the tomb of his High-Priest Merya clearly show 
a back yard charmingly arranged to serve as an open-air 
living-room. 


A second type of pleasure-ground was a park in the 





LOGGIA OVERLOOKING GARDEN, ABOUT 2000 B.C. 


THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND a 


country where merrymakers could seek a day’s recrea- 
tion. It is sometimes distinguished by being called a 
mparadise:” The buildings erected there were not in- 
tended for residences and were merely adjuncts to the 
sheets of water, the groves of trees, and the flower- 
beds. Shelter from inclement weather was provided by 
pavilions that could be used as banqueting-halls and by 
kiosks placed near enough to the pools to be convenient 
for fishermen. There were also small temples for the 
worship of the gods and sacred trees marked by votive 
offerings. Boating and duck-shooting enlivened the arti- 
ficial lakes. Trees were planted in rows, with a saucer of 
earth around each trunk to hold the moisture, connected 
by small irrigating canals, just as we see them to-day in 
the gardens built by the Arabs in Spain. Ridges of earth 
also encased the beds of flowers, which were sometimes 
designed in connection with the waterways. The whole 
effect displayed a grasp of the principles underlying all 
forms of art and must have been very beautiful. 
Akhenaten, as befitted a prince with the highest ideals, 
was an ardent lover of art and nature as well as a religious 
devotee. In the palace he erected after leaving Thebes, 
on the bank of the Nile in Akhetaten, his new capital, the 
walls of his own bedroom were covered with paintings of 
flowers. Unfortunately, we have learned, as yet, very 
little about the gardens there. In a southern suburb 


called Maru-aten, however, the site of one of his ‘‘ para- 
’ 


dises’”’ was excavated by the Egyptian Exploration So- 


8 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENG 


ciety in 1921-22, and the accounts they have published 
of what they found there give us a remarkably complete 
picture of this royal picnic-ground. We can easily im- 
agine how the King must have enjoyed coming here to get 
away from the messengers bringing word of disasters 
in many parts of his empire and from the intrigues of 
the politicians and the priests of Amen, eager to regain 
their lost power. Here he and his beloved wife and their 
young daughters could go boating on the lake, walk 
along shady paths shaded by date-palms or sycamores, 
or feast in one of several kiosks overlooking the water. 
There was also a temple in the centre at one end of the 
lake where they could worship their one and only God, 
whose power was symbolized by the sun and its far- 
reaching rays. Probably docile monkeys climbed over 
the branches of the trees and helped to gather the fruit, 
pet gazelles played with the children and their dwarfs, 
ducks dwelt among the papyruses growing on the margin 
of the water, and fish swam about under the blue, white, 
and pink lotuses ornamenting the pools. 

It might be interesting to study the plan and some of 
the architectural features in detail. There are distinct 
indications of two walled enclosures. The larger one was 
designed with especial care. It contained a large oblong 
lake one hundred and twenty metres long and half that 
in width. This was a favorite proportion judging from 
the fact that the pond in the smaller enclosure was also 
twice as long as it was wide, as are the enclosures them- 





> SIXTEENTH CENTURY 


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A PERSIAN PRI 







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THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND II 


selves, the larger being two hundred metres long by one 
hundred wide, and the smaller, one hundred and sixty by 
eighty. [he main axis is emphasized by the temple at the 
head of the larger lake; other minor axes were also 
brought out by the planting and the disposition of the 
various buildings. In establishing the continuity of tradi- 
tional styles, a pavilion enclosing a central court with a 
colonnade is noteworthy, as foreshadowing the Greek 
peristyle and the Spanish patio. Then there is a curious 
water-court with interlocking T-shaped tanks, and a row 
of columns down the centre suggestive of certain features 
in both Persian and Moorish gardens. In fact, in sundry 
ways impossible to enumerate in a limited space, the con- 
nection between them is very close. 

After being subjugated by the Assyrians and forming 
part of their empire, Egypt was conquered by the Per- 
slans In 525 B.c., and remained under their dominion for 
about two centuries. During this period there was a 
constant interchange of ideas between the two countries. 
On this account it is easy to understand that, when many 
years later Persian garden-making was brought to per- 
fection, it showed traces of Egyptian inspiration. Differ- 
ences of religion, of climate, and in the physical con- 
formation of the two countries (one lying in a narrow 
river valley and the other on a high plateau) were re- 
flected in a certain dissimilarity of plan, but hardly 
altered other ideas. A Persian “‘paradise,” resembling 
the one attributed to Akhenaten, was a walled enclosure 


12 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


containing tanks of water, ornamental kiosks, avenues 
of trees, and flower-beds. 

Until the reign of Chosroes I, the most illustrious King 
of the Sassanid Dynasty, flourishing in the sixth century 
A.D., our knowledge of the Persian paradise-plan is in- 
complete. His travelling carpet furnished a valuable key 
to much fragmentary information. This magnificent 
rug, sixty ells square, was covered with a design sym- 
bolizing the cosmic cross and depicting the type of 
pleasure-garden admired not only then, but for centuries 
afterward, in both Persia and India. It showed a square 
enclosure divided by two streams of running water, and 
containing paths and beds. Seed pearls represented the 
gravel; trees and flowers were of silk and their branches 
were of gold and silver thread. On the outside border 
were shrubs ornamented by many-colored precious 
stones. It was called the “‘spring carpet,” and after the 
death of its original owner was used by his successors 
until the last of the Sassanids was defeated by the Arabs 
in 637, when it was carried away as part of their booty. 
The Arab writers described its sumptuousness, and from 
their records various details of the design have been 
handed down to us. 

Many later rugs elaborate the same idea. Perhaps 
the most interesting of those now in existence is ene that 
belonged to the Shah Abbas, who laid out some fine 
gardens in the Persian capital at the beginning of the 
sixteenth century. On this carpet water-courses accen- 


NAdUVO TVWUOT V NI ONICIY HVHS QGYUWNWNVHNW 








THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND 15 


tuate the two main axes and at their intersection is a 
square of water dominated by a small pavilion or a 
fountain-basin. Birds are swimming in the pool, and on 





INDIAN GARDEN-PAVILIONS 


each side of the canal are star-shaped beds suggesting 
those beside the long central canal leading up to the Taj 
Mahal. Eight octagonal kiosks symbolize the eight pearl 
pavilions of the Moslem paradise. The similarity is 
striking between the garden-design woven into this rug 


16 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


and the plan outlined in an eighteenth-century water- 
color drawing showing Muhammed Shah riding in a 
Persian garden. Although the plan is symmetrical and 
the spacing of the pointed cypresses is fairly regular, the 
other trees scattered among the shrubs and flowers ap- 
pear to have just happened to grow where they are. The 
imposing gateway and the colonnade in front of the 
pavilion, may unconsciously reflect Egyptian influence. 

The Persian poets and painters, beginning in the thir- 
teenth century, depict the beauties of the flowery or- 
chards and various other kinds of gardens, and show that 
they were used for manifold purposes. Kings gave audi- 
ences and feasts there upon especial occasions; guests 
slept there in their gaily colored tents or on platforms 
raised to catch every whiff of air on hot nights; and there 
prayers of thanksgiving were offered by the women of the 
family when the men had won a victory in battle. Cer- 
tain pools and fountains were reserved for the frequent 
ablutions required by the Moslem religion. Wherever 
people wished to sit down, the ground was spread with 
rugs. Some enclosures were especially intended to be 
seen by moonlight and in them white flowers predomi- 
nated. A poem by Sadi in the Gulistan, translated by 
E. B. Earwick, is full of subtle suggestion: — 

“One night I was walking at a late hour with a friend 
in a flower-garden. The spot was blithe and pleasing, 
and the trees intertwined there charmingly. You would 
have said that fragments of enamel were sprinkled on 





ors 


HUMAY IN A CHINESE GARDEN AT NIGHT 





THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND 19 


the ground, and that the necklace of the Pleiades was 
suspended from the vines that grew there. 

A garden where the murmuring rill was heard; 

While from the trees sang each melodious bird; 

That, with the many-colored tulip bright, 

These with their various fruits the eye delight. 

The whispering breeze beneath the branches’ shade, 

Of bending flowers a motley carpet made. 
In the morning, when the inclination to return prevailed 
over our wish to stay, I saw that he had gathered his 


lap full of roses, and fragrant herbs, and hyacinths and 


b) 


sweet basil... .’ 
Towards the close of the fifteenth century there was 
a renaissance of art both in Persia and India. This was 


one of the wonderfully stirring periods of history. Almost 


pe ya cornea ae = aie ‘ $ sane hare : pc 





A PERSIAN TERRACE 


20 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


at the same time Columbus discovered America, Vasco da 
Gama revealed the sea-route to India, and the Catholic 
Kings ousted the Moors from their last stronghold in 
Spain, while a boy named Zehireddin Mohammed, usu- 
ally known by his nickname, Babur, received the news 
of his accession to the little kingdom of Farghana in the 
Neatiast. 

The Indian gardens were modelled after the earlier 
ones of Persia, and, like them, were rectangular enclo- 
sures protected from outside observation by high walls 
and entered through imposing gateways, one in the cen- 
tre of each side. Small octagonal pavilions often marked 
the corners, and various summer-houses and seats were 
placed in prominent positions. On the main axes were 
streams of water running through channels lined with 
stone or with tiles of turquoise-blue and edged with a 
brick or stone coping. Borders of spring flowers and 
shrubs, accented by cypresses, were reflected in the 
water and broke the monotony of the walls. The more 
elaborate parterres, like the borders on each side of the 
long pool in front of the Taj Mahal, were enriched by 
being laid out in geometrical designs outlined with nar- 
row marble flagging. Sometimes there were a series of 
such gardens linked together by a stream of water run- 
ning down the centre and placed on eight terraces to 
represent the eight heavens of the Moslem paradise. 

During the reigns of the Great Mughals, from the 
sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, these paradises 


THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND 21 


reached the acme of perfection. Perhaps the spacious 
formal gardens that they loved to create were the most 
precious contributions of the Mughal rulers to Indian 
art. [he most famous were those created by Jahangar 
Shah for his Persian wife on the shores of two lovely 
lakes in the Vale of Kashmir and the far-famed Taj 
Mahal at Agra. Nothing more enchanting than these 
terraced Kashmir gardens is imaginable. Their interest 
centred in the beautiful and varied treatment of the 
water which flowed down the middle of the garden and 
tumbled in cascades from one level to another. Mrs. 
Villiers Stuart, in her remarkable book, ‘‘The Gardens 
of the Great Mughals,” has given detailed descriptions 
of many of these pleasure-grounds. 

Babur, or The Tiger, became renowned as the con- 
queror of many Eastern countries. At the close of his 
reign he founded the Indian Empire and was the first of 
the celebrated line of rulers known as the Great Mughals. 
Besides being successful as a soldier, he won distinction 
as a poet, a patron of the arts, especially of architecture, 
and was renowned as a “Prince of Gardeners.” His 
memoirs dwell upon his fondness for fine scenery, for 
rippling streams and perfumed flowers. On a campaign 
in a strange country, between battles he would have lists 
made of the different varieties of plants, and select sites 
suitable for gardens, where the aspects of nature were 
inspiring and cool streams of water flowed rapidly. 
Near Ush he remarked upon the perfection of the 


22 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


violets and wrote that the roses and tulips bloomed in 
unusual profusion. Not far from there he was impressed 
by the luxuriant pomegranates and apricots. Blossom- 
ing fruit-trees, grouped near slender swaying cypresses, 
with the sward beneath them powdered by starry flowers, 
made a spring-time picture that Persian and Indian 
artists have painted over and over again. 

The early pleasure-grounds of India had been laid out 
in the naturalistic style like the Buddhist landscape 
gardens still existing in China. Babur was a pioneer 
in introducing symmetrical plans, canals dividing the 
ground into quarters, and numerous terraces. He loved 
to spend his leisure hours enthroned on the edge of a 
waterfall or, lying on silken cushions in a marble pavilion 
beside a crystal pool, looking at a beautiful view, while 
the fairest maidens danced before him and there were 
sounds of music in the air. On the side of a red granite 
cistern he had incised the following lines: 

“Sweet is the New Year’s coming, sweet the smiling 
Spring, sweet is the juice of the mellow grape, sweeter 
far is the voice of Love. O Babur, seize Life’s pleasures 
which, once departed, can never, alas, return.” 


4 


Among the ten “‘paradises”” Babur created in Kabul, 
one that he often mentions, laid out in 1508, was called 
the “‘Garden of Fidelity.” Four waterways divided the 
ground into quarters and it was shaded by many orange- 
and pomegranate-trees. Around a stone reservoir twenty 


feet square was a plot of clover which he praises as “the 























ILION 


PAV 


A PERSIAN PRINCE IN A GARDEN- 


a 





THE ORIENTAL BACKGROUND 25 


very eye of beauty.” Other “‘paradises,” with numerous 
pavilions, fountains and cascades, were near Agra. His 
favorite was the Bagh-i-Khilan in Kabul, with a beauti- 
ful view over barren, rocky hunting-grounds towards 
mountain-peaks perpetually clad with snow. When the 
judas-trees were covered with their rosy blossoms, he 
declared that he could not imagine a more lovely spot 
on earth. And here, after he had with touching solemnity 
laid down his life that his son Humayun might live, his 
body was laid in its final resting-place. 

The tombs of the Great Mughals were often placed in 
pavilions surrounded by gardens that they had enjoyed 
in their lifetimes, or that were designed to perpetuate 
their memory. The classic example is, of course, the Taj 
Mahal at Agra, with its exquisitely proportioned dome 
and minarets, its long pools of water reflecting tall cy- 
presses and bordered by chains of interlocking  star- 
shaped beds outlined by marble flagging, erected by the 
Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved Persian wife. 
There are others, less well-preserved to-day, that must 
have been very beautiful before they fell into decay. 

In Kashmir, on the shore of the Dal Lake, the Mughals — 
built two gardens that are still flourishing. The more 
famous of these is the Shalimar Bagh laid out on several 
terraces and containing some very interesting architec- 
tural features made of black marble, always a charming 
contrast to mirrors of water and brilliantly colored flow- 
ers. A second one is well-named the ‘‘Garden of Glad- 


26 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


ness,” for it is the gayest of all, with terraces aglow with 
color and a succession of pools with jets of water spark- 
ling in the sunshine. 

Glimmerings of the spiritual significance of these gar- 
dens can best be obtained by studying the writings of the 
great Persian poets. The poems of Omar Khayyam are 
too familiar for quotation, but his thirteenth-century 
contemporary Sadi 1s equally inspiring, when he speaks 
of the Creator, saying, — 

‘““He biddeth His chamberlain, the morning breeze, 
spread out the emerald carpet of the earth, and com- 
mandeth His nurses, the vernal clouds, tom fostemam 
earth’s cradle the daughters of the grass, and clotheth 
the trees with a garment of leaves, and at the approach 
of Spring crowneth the young branches with wreaths of 
blossoms... .” 

Another Persian poet who wrote in the fourteenth 
century, no doubt appealed to the cultivated Moors in 
Spain as well as to his fellow-countrymen. His name was 
Hafiz and the following lines suggest his love of beauty: 

‘Gather treasures for thyself from the colors and the 
odors of the spring-tide, for the autumn and the winter 
follow fast upon their heels.” | 

“Ts there aught more precious than the beauty of the 
garden and the presence of the spring?”’ 


Oia Rael], 
MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 


IT is amazing to learn that perhaps thirty thousand ears 
ago there were artists living among the cave-dwellers of 
that part of the Eastern Hemisphere now called Southern 
France and Spain, where are still produced most of the 
leaders in the world of art to-day. The paintings and 
the sculpture that these primitive people executed so 
long ago are the earliest-known enduring expressions of 
a love of beauty, though, as Schiller wrote, it might be 
said that art came into existence with the first weaving 
of a garland of flowers. | 

Even after the dawn of history, millenniums later, 
very little is known about the Iberian Peninsula before 
the Roman Conquest. Under the governorship of Julius 
Cesar, in the middle of the first century B.c., however, 
it became part of the Roman Empire and received many 
of the gifts of civilization. Ruined temples, aqueducts, 
and bridges dating from the first two centuries of the 
Christian Era are still extant at Mérida, Segovia, and 
Alcantara among other places, but there are few traces 
of the sumptuous villas and the fine gardens that must 
have been built at the same time. Much destruction was 
wrought by the hordes of Vandals who swept over the 
country as the Empire disintegrated, and for several 


28 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


succeeding centuries there was little security for life or 
property. After defeating the Vandals and the enfeebled 
Romans, the Visigoths established their kingdom in most 
of Spain. The Visigoths had some culture and adopted 
wise laws, but their kings were poor administrators 
who readily resorted to violence and murder. Bitter 
theological disputes divided the Christian Church into 
opposing camps. Corruption and ceaseless turmoil un- 
dermined the kingdom at its foundations until, before 
the close of the eighth century, its decadence was pain- 
fully evident. 

At this time Christianity might seem to have proved 
a failure. During the first glorious century after the 
death of Christ, his disciples had so interpreted his teach- 
ings as to bring honor to his name, but their successors 
soon fell from grace. Christendom increased in size, but 
not in wisdom or holiness. The Byzantine Empire be- 
came notorious for appalling corruption. In Constan- 
tinople the beautiful cathedral of Saint Sophia was 
desecrated by a depraved priesthood, free-fighting took 
place in the holiest shrines of Jerusalem, and horrible 
crimes were common all over the Near East. 

Then in 632 there was born in Arabia one believed 
by many of his fellow-men to be a Messenger of God. 
His name was Mohammed, and, denouncing idolatry, he 
urged a renewal of belief in one God and conversion to 
Islam, meaning the religion of peace. His followers 
carried his message far afield in Asia and Africa, but 


MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 29 


sometimes departed from peaceful methods. During 
their stay in Egypt and Persia, they acquired the know- 
ledge of art and architecture to which they soon gave 
expression on the Iberian Peninsula. 

Contrary to the usual supposition, the Arabs did not 
invade Spain with any desire to spread their religion by 
means of the sword. They came at the invitation of 
Count Julian, a Christian Greek and an officer in the 
Visigothic army who had suffered a grave injury at the 
hands of the Visigothic king. No doubt, the Spanish 
Jews, victims of Christian persecution, welcomed the 
invasion. The Moorish army was headed by Musa, a 
veteran Arab general, but he was aided by a motley 
crew including Berbers, Jews, Goths, and Byzantine 
apostates, slaves, and mercenaries. Following a decisive 
victory over King Roderick and his army at Guadalete 
in Southern Andalusia, the conquest of the rest of the 
Iberian Peninsula was an easy matter, since the Visi- 
goths failed to offer any effective resistance. 

After the conquest, Moorish rule, lasting in some parts 
of the country nearly eight hundred years, may not have 
been an unmitigated blessing though it brought about 
many improvements. Christian and Jewish subjects were 
free to practice their own particular religions and to live 
under the protection of their own laws, besides sharing 
in the benefits of many Moorish innovations. The early 
Emirs, with the help of Persian architects, erected fine 
buildings in astonishing numbers, and fostered both 


z0. SPANISH AND«POR TUGUESE GARDENS 


agriculture and horticulture partly through the introduc- 
tion of a marvellous system of irrigation. Seville, Cor- 
dova, and Granada became the capitals of different prin- 
cipalities and centres of learning. Not only the mosques, 
but the churches, as well as the palaces and pleasure- 
grounds, designed in a new style derived both from Gothic 
and Persian sources, became celebrated far and wide. 

The first Emir of Cordova was a descendant of the 
Prophet through the Ommayad line, and was the sole 
member of his family to escape alive from Abbasside 
tyranny. In 755, as Abd-ar-Rahman I, he established 
an independent Caliphate at Cordova, and it became the 
capital of Andalusia. His passion for building added 
much to the beauty of the city. Mosques, baths, and 
palaces sprang up almost overnight. A massive aqueduct 
brought pure streams from the mountains; while wheels 
on the bank raised water from the river. His favorite 
palace recalled the beloved home of his grandfather in 
Damascus. Trees and plants were imported from his 
native land to adorn the gardens connected with the 
new palace and to help make him forget that he was in 
exile. Among these was a palm, to which he addressed 
a poem beginning, “‘ You, O Palm, are like me a stranger 
in this western land, far from your home and separated 
from friends and relatives.” The great palm-forest of 
Elche, in Valencia, where over a hundred thousand trees 
flourish with their roots well watered, owes its existence 
to the Moors and their knowledge of irrigation. 


MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 31 





Garzon 


MOORISH FOUNTAIN, COURT OF CATHEDRAL, SEVILLE 


At Cordova, the mosque begun by Abd-ar-Rahman I 
is the noblest architectural monument of the Spanish 
Arabs and the first to show that, although they had not 
forgotten what they had learned in Persia, they were 
capable of developing a style of their own. The Court 
of the Ablutions, now known as the Patio de los Naranjos, 
adjoining this mosque is the oldest enclosed garden in 
Spain and perhaps anywhere in Europe. It is entered 
by the horseshoe arch of the Puerta del Perdon, and its 
good proportions, four hundred feet long by two hun- 
dred wide, immediately produce an agreeable impression. 
Palms and orange-trees planted in regular rows cast 


32 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


pleasant shadows and trickling fountains make a de- 
licilous murmur. Every tree has a hollow around the 
base of its trunk and each connects with stone gutters 
that carry streams of water from one to another. 

Originally the mosque opened directly into the court 
with no partition wall, like the temple of Solomon and 
the ancient Persian audience halls, and also the fountains 
were disposed differently. Still, much of the early charm 
has survived, although the forest of columns is no longer 
visible from the patio, flowers fail to fringe the arcades, 
and throngs of white-robed worshippers do not pause 
to perform their ablutions before entering the sacred 
edifice. 

Later Ommayad Caliphs added fountains in the Court 
of the Ablutions, increased the size of the mosque, and 
stimulated the building of palatial residences elsewhere. 
Intimate gardens, crossed by paths of different-colored 
pebbles laid in pretty patterns and embellished by marble 
fountains and vegetation of increasing variety, grew 
common. The Moorish rulers welcomed many distin- 
guished foreigners as their guests. Among them was the 
famous scholar and musician Ziryab, from Bagdad, who 
described in detail a list of plants and their uses. 

Moslem power in Spain reached its height in the time 
of Abd-ar-Rahman III, an excellent ruler and a great 
lover of beauty. The whole country became like a 
garden. At Seville were unrivalled olive-groves and the 
banks of the Guadalquivir were bright with flowers, 


MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 33 


while the environs of other cities were clothed with 
cypresses, fruit-trees, and ornamental plants. Romantic 
names were given to some of the suburbs of Cordova, 
such as “The Vale of Paradise,’ ‘The Garden of 
Wonders,” and ‘‘The Path of Roses,’ suggesting the 
beauties there. Fifty thousand palaces are said to have 
existed then. The finest of all was the magnificent villa 
of Az-Zahra beneath the sombre Sierra Morena, a few 
miles outside the city. It was named after a favorite of 
the Emir called the Blossom. A dark mountain circling 
behind the white walls caused her to exclaim to him, 
“See, O Master, how beautiful this girl looks in the.arms 
of yonder Ethiopian.” 

Distinguished architects from Constantinople made 
the plans which were carried out under the super- 
vision of Byzantine and perhaps Egyptian foremen. Ten 
thousand workmen are said to have toiled for twenty- 
five years to complete this suburb, which was nearly as 
short-lived as the city built by Akhenaten at E]-Amarneh. 
The multiplicity of elaborate details described by Arabic 
writers as ornamenting the pleasure-grounds is bewilder- 
ing. A marble terrace overhung the matchless gardens. 
Every plant described by the learned botanists flourished 
in the collection there, besides many flowers valued more 
for their fragrance than for their color. Hedges of clipped 
laurel, myrtle, or box, shaded the walks paved with 
mosaics, and there were seats protected from the sun 
under vine-covered arbors and pavilions. The study of 


34 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


hydraulics was a favorite pursuit, and the engineers 
displayed extraordinary ability here in the distribution 
of the water, which not only served for irrigation, but 
played in innumerable fountains, ran in rivulets through 
channels furrowed in marble balustrades beside stair- 
ways, and fed an artificial lake. No Moslem religious 
scruples prevented the use of a Byzantine fountain- 
basin decorated with human figures and another of 
Syrian design made of green marble with jewelled ani- 
mals and birds cast in gold. 

A central pavilion large enough to hold a number of 
people was the most impressive architectural feature. 
Its walls were of translucent stone, and a dome of the 
same material rested upon pillars of variegated marble 
and transparent rock-crystal, while the rest of the roof 
was covered with tiles made of pure gold and silver. 
To enhance the dazzling effect, the sun’s rays were con- 
centrated in a porphyry basin filled with quicksilver 
placed beneath the dome. Here were enacted many of 
the historic scenes that made Abd-ar-Rahman’s reign 
famous. On one of these occasions, attired as Caliph 
in his white robes of state, seated on a throne blazing 
with jewels, and surrounded by glittering courtiers, he 
gave audience to the awe-struck Kings of Leon and 
Navarre come to supplicate his favor. Another time, 
ambassadors from the Byzantine Emperor stood there 
literally dumb with amazement. 

Curiously enough, the mother of Abd-ar-Rahman, who 


MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 35 


had great influence over him, was not a member of his 
race or religion, but a Christian descendant of the Visi- 
gothic kings. She had brought him up in Seville, where 
the Emirs had employed Christian Egyptians as work- 
men and this apparently led to their subsequent employ- 
ment at 4z-Zahra, where much of the sculpture showed 
Egyptian feeling and disregard of Moslem tenets. This 
can be seen in some of the statuary, well-heads, and 
fountain-basins preserved in the museums of Cordova 
and Madrid. Fifty capitals of the columns are in the 4/- 
cazar and its gardens at Seville. Probably most of the 
remainder of the three thousand, described by the Arab 
historians as being no two of them alike, are still buried 
under the ruins of the lost city. 

At times Seville rivalled Cordova, but less 1s known 
about the gardens there preceding those of the Alcazar, 
which will be described in a later chapter. The Gothic 
cathedral has completely wiped out the great mosque, 
apart from the Giralda tower. But the Patio de los 
Naranjos adjoining the cathedral, which was formerly 
the forecourt of the mosque, has been altered but little 
and still contains a curious Moorish fountain-basin of 
interesting design. 

Toledo, formerly the chief city of the Visigoths, later 
became the capital of one of the many Moorish princi- 
palities and a centre of culture. In its environs, now so 
largely wild and desolate, were many splendid royal 
residences furnished with unique attractions that have 


26 OPANISHUAND  PORTUGUESESGAR DENS 


disappeared almost entirely. [wo of these villas were 
especially interesting. 

One, named the ‘Mansion of the Hours,’ now called 
the Palacio de Galiana, on the bank of the Tagus, near 
the present railway station, has not been wholly de- 
stroyed. Supposedly built by King Galafré for his 
daughter, afterward the wife of Charlemagne, its walls 
were covered with brilliantly colored mosaics and gilded 
stucco-work, and the rarest marbles added to the daz- 
zling effect. Exquisitely sculptured fountains refreshed 
the air. In the largest of the courtyards was one of 
those curious hydraulic contrivances which the Arabs 
delighted to devise for the bewilderment of all beholders. 
This was the invention of the celebrated astronomer 
Al-Zarkil, and consisted of two reservoirs of water cun- 
ningly regulated to correspond exactly to the changing 
phases of the moon. In the lovely garden here Charle- 
magne first caught sight of his future bride; but all these 
glories have passed away. 

A shady grove in the second of these royal villas half- 
concealed a gorgeous pavilion erected in the centre of 
an artificial lake. It could be approached only through 
a subterranean passage. Glass of many colors filigreed 
with golden arabesques, covered the sides and the dome 
above, while the floor was inlaid with mosaics. Hither, 
in the season described by Sadi, “‘when the fierce heat 
dried up the moisture of the mouth and the scorching 
the Emir 


b) 


wind consumed the marrow of the bones,’ 


MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 37 


would repair to take a siesta. After he was luxuriously 
ensconced on silken cushions, the water would be turned 
on until the dome was completely enveloped with spray 
and shone with the iridescence of a rainbow. 

In the Province of Granada also the Moors had 
accomplished wonders. ‘The agricultural system, intro- 
duced there from Mesopotamia, had turned the vast 
plain into a succession of luxuriant vineyards and 
orchards, copiously irrigated by water brought down in 
aqueducts from the mountains. After the reconquest of 
the rest of Spain by the Christians, many of the Moslems 
irom Otncr parts of the country sought refuge here. 
Towards the close of Moorish domination, the city of 
Granada was considered the richest in Spain from an 
intellectual, as well as a material, standpoint. 

The hills above the town, with their beautiful views 
of the Vega and the encircling ranges of snow-mountains, 
were chosen by the Moors as sites for palaces and villas. 
Fortunately, although so many of the glories of the past 
have completely vanished, the palace of the dlhambra 
and the villa of the Generalife still remain connecting 
links between the civilizations of Moslem and Christian 
Spain. Injured as they have been by lack of proper care, 
by indiscriminate praise, and by crude imitations, even 
in their present state they retain an extraordinary charm. 
Their walls protect a series of unroofed enclosures, where 
it is possible to study typical garden-designs, including 
methods of employing water both for use and ornament, 


38 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


of applying many kinds of polychrome tiles to different 
surfaces, and of paving paths and courtyards with gray 
and white pebbles to form highly decorative designs. 
Within these patios the general effect from certain as- 
pects is little altered, while outside, the marvellous back- 
ground, formed by the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra 
Nevada rising above the vast stretches of the Vega, 
remains in all its primeval beauty untouched by man 
and untarnished by time. 

Generally royal palaces are on a large scale in a 
grandiose style intended to overawe the humble and 
unaccustomed visitor. The diminutive proportions of 
these Moorish villas and their fairylike appearance are, 
therefore, a pleasant surprise. Navegero, the Venetian 
traveller who visited Granada in 1526, enthusiastically 
described both residences in detail as they appeared in 
the time of Charles V. Evidently they were intended 
to be homelike rather than impressive. The clear-cut 
decoration escapes being gaudy, notwithstanding the 
brilliant color combinations used in the tiles and the 
stucco-work, because it is handled with an exquisite 
refinement that must be seen to be appreciated. In the 
patios the method of conducting the water through open 
marble channels, as in Persia and India, so that it may 
answer both useful and ornamental purposes, particu- 
larly impressed me. It is also a relief to see no hard-and- 
fast plans, no attempt at mathematical precision. The 
spontaneity of the Middle Ages strikes the keynote, and 
balance replaces symmetry. 





Linares 


LOGGIA AND PATIO DE ACEQUIA, GENERALIFE 


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WMOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 41 


As the gardens of the Generalife are the oldest in 
Granada, let us first visit this country residence or 
““paradise’’ of the Moorish kings, before trying to unravel 
the more complicated mysteries of the Palace of the 
Alhambra. In Arabic Generalife means “lofty garden” 
and, enthroned high up on the slopes of the Cerro del Sol, 
it deserves its name. An old inscription shows that it 
was restored in 1319 by King Ismail soon after he seized 
the throne from his accomplished uncle Al-Nazar, and 
so it must have been built at an earlier date. Al-Nazar, 
like Alphonso X of Castile the most interesting of the 
medieval Spanish kings, was devoted to the study of 
astronomy and an excellent mathematician. Since he 
happened to be staying at the Generalife when the plot 
against him came to a head, he escaped with his life, 
though he lost his throne. At the time of the Christian 
reconquest of Granada, the Generalife villa was given 
to a Moor who had helped the Catholic Kings, and it 
has only recently become the property of the Spanish 
Government. The buildings contain so few rooms that 
they seem rather more like pavilions intended for a 
day’s recreation, than for permanent abodes. It is the 
series of patios and terraces with their box-edged beds, 
the living waters, and fragrant flowers that must always 
have been the chief attractions. 7 

The approach up a footpath lined on each side by 
stately cypresses is very impressive, but it leads to an un- 
pretentious side of the building. Upon entering, we find 


42 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


ourselves in a loggia looking into a delightful patio 
framed by slender marble columns, with a similar loggia 
at the opposite end. On one side is a marble colonnade 





PATH TO THE GENERALIFE 


with a little mosque, turned into a chapel, and opposite 
is a white wall. Down the centre a stream flows through a 
wide canal paved with marble and overarched by num- 
berless jets of water sparkling in the sunshine. Box-edged — 
borders filled with a medley of fragrant flowers are re- 
flected in the stream. This court takes its name, Patio de 
la Acequia, from the aqueduct, which no doubt served 
for the pious ablutions of the Moorish princes. 





Linares 


GENERALIFE 


b) 


PATIOMDE LAVACEQUIA 





MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 45 


Hidden between the further building and the hillside 
is the charming Patio de los Cipreses, guarded on three 
sides by high walls and on the fourth by a loggia ad- 
joining the modest palace. Not improbably this spot 
may have formed part of the harim. Curiously enough, © 
as Mr. Bottomley has discovered, the plan embodies the 
principles of dynamic symmetry. A narrow, oblong pen- 
insula of ground, divided into three sections, accented at 
the ends by oleanders and in the middle by a fountain, oc- 
cupies the central space. It is nearly surrounded by a 
canal ten feet wide, into which play merry little spouts 
of water. A clipped green hedge separates the canal 
from a path characteristically paved with pebbles laid 
in a simple pattern. Towering up towards the sky is 
a gnarled cypress said to be at least six hundred years 
old, and called ‘‘the Sultana.”’ 

Thereby hangs a tale that helps us to picture some 
of the romantic incidents that took place there centuries 
ago. Under this ancient tree, King Abul-Hassan’s wife, 
Zoraya, was said to have clandestinely met her lover, one 
of the Abencerrages. When informed that she was sus- 
pected of having committed this crime, she was told that 
she would be burnt alive if she could not secure four 
knights ready to fight in defence of her honor within 
thirty days. But on the morning of the final day the 
lovely Zoraya was in despair, for she was still without a 
champion. Then Don Juan de Chacon, Lord of Carta- 
gena (whom she had implored to come to her rescue), ap- 


46 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


peared upon the scene with three other Christian knights. 
They fought against her four accusers and slew them all. 
Before the last one expired, he admitted with his dying 
breath that he and his fellow-conspirators had invented 
the damning charges and that Zoraya was innocent. 
However, most people have heard only the first part of 
this story, and persistently believe that the ancient 
cypress was the trysting-place of guilty lovers. 
Descending through a passageway under the building 
near the Patio de los Cipreses, we shall emerge upon one 
of the most enchanting little hanging gardens I have 
ever seen. It is actually about forty feet square, though 
the sides are not exactly parallel, but it looks smaller 
because of lofty structures that hem it in on every side. 





Reyes 


PATIO DE LOS CIPRESES, GENERALIFE 


MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 47 


On the outer edge the wall is pierced by five open arch- 
ways dividing the view of the picturesque Albaicin Hill 
into panels. In each of the embrasures is a masonry 
seat built into the thickness of the walls, for wherever 
there was a fine prospect the Moors wished to have a 
place to rest in comfort. Formerly the Albaicin was cov- 
ered with the finest Moorish residences; now its sides 
are riddled with cave-dwellings and frequented by gyp- 
sies. [he box-edged parterre is subdivided by eight paths 
radiating from a round central fountain giving this little 
terrace its name —the Patio del Fuente Rotundo. 

The water stairway connecting the ground above the 
Patio de los Cipreses with the upper apex of the terraced 
triangle has been admired for centuries. It rises through 
a shady fringe of trees on the western boundary, and is 
interestingly broken at intervals by ramps and circular 
platforms. Water runs down tiled gutters in the top of 
the abutting parapets and spurts up in small round 
fountains accenting the landings. On the east side of 
the triangle a more commonplace staircase, arched over 
by vines and with broad landings paved with pebbles, 
also leads up to the Mzrador. 

Perched at the top of this airy tower we can enjoy 
a marvellous view of the snow-mountains and the Vega 
with the Alhambra Hill in the middle distance. Directly 
below are box-edged parterres ornamenting four different 
terraces. No two are laid out in the same way and none 
are strictly symmetrical or formal. All the walls are 


48 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


whitewashed, and the highest one is masked by a row 
of tall laurels and cypresses that 1s very effective. Flower- 
pots are lined up on the tops of the walls and add a 
touch of color. 





MIRADOR, GENERALIFE GARDENS 


There is a lack of premeditation about the whole 
pleasaunce that adds much to its charm. The self- 
conscious peacock slowly unfolding its tail commands 
our admiration, but does not give us the keen delight 
evoked by seeing a delicately hued butterfly casually 
hovering over a flower. An element of surprise is in- 
troduced everywhere. Gardens, instead of being an- 
nounced by impressive entrances, turn up in the most 


MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 49 


unexpected places. No attempt is made to extend long 
vistas or to arrive anywhere by logical sequences — and 
yet this little jewel has a charm which impressed the 
Moorish historians and made the Venetian traveller 
Navegero exclaim, early in the sixteenth century, that it 
was the most beautiful thing he had seen in the course 
of his journey through Spain. 

From the Generalife the walls and towers of the 
Alhambra seem only a short distance away, though 
separated by an abrupt ravine. Formerly a bridge 
spanned the ravine, and a secret passage made it easy 
for the kings to go from one estate to the other un- 
observed. Now it is necessary to zigzag around past 
the Washington Irving Hotel and through the Alameda, 
planted with elms by the Duke of Wellington, and the 
resort of many nightingales. 

No one ever visits the enclosure on the Alhambra 
Hill, surrounded by battlemented walls strengthened by 
twenty-three towers, without being armed with a guide- 
book, so I shall not attempt to give a categorical descrip- 
tion of what is to be seen there. It 1s only in connection 
with the Moorish palace that there are gardens ante- 
dating the occupation of Ferdinand and Isabella. Some 
of the courtyards there, however, also belong to a later 
period. 

The part we first enter is called the Palacio de Comares, 
and was probably built by Yusuf I as a summer- 
residence. It encloses the Patio de la Alberca, or de los 


50 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Arrayanes, named from the pool down the centre and 
the clipped myrtle hedges on each side. This is the 
largest of the courtyards and perhaps the most beautiful. 
At each end is a cool loggia with slender alabaster 
columns, while orange-trees shade the centre and are 
reflected in the water. Here the Moorish princes per- 
formed their ablutions before going to prayers in their 
private mosque. Rising above the north end of the 
courtyard is the battlemented tower of Comares, where 
especially important personages were imprisoned from 
time to time. 

The adjacent Patio de los Leones is named after the 
twelve rather impossible-looking lions backing up to 
the fountain in the centre. Here is a case where religious 
scruples did not prevent Moslems from representing 
animals, but it does not prove that they could do so 
very successfully. The fountain-basins belong to an 
early period, but the central spout is modern. Four 
open runnels carry the water to the fountain and divide 
the plot into quarters. The ground, now an arid waste 
of gravel, was formerly planted with flowers and fruit- 
trees. Six orange-trees cast a pleasant shade when Philip 
le Beau was there in 1502. Simple and effective are the 
eight small basins, placed on the outer margin, intended 
to catch delicate sprays of water. The airy pavilion 
with its many slender alabaster columns projecting into 
the enclosure 1s one of the most perfect pieces of Moorish 
architecture. 





Linares 


PATIO DE LOS ARRAYANES 





MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA 53 


Two smaller courts, known as the Patio de Daraxa 
and the Patio de los Cipreses, are not so Oriental in 
appearance, yet are none the less extremely attractive. 
The first of them formed part of the Aarim. It is placed 
in a curiously lopsided enclosure, and there is a pretty 





PATIO DE DARAXA, ALHAMBRA 


ajimez, as this characteristic twin-arched window is 
called, in the wall. The ground is laid out with flower- 
beds, cypresses, and.a fountain with a Moorish basin. 
Whatever alterations Charles V may have made here, 
he did little harm. Much smaller is the Patio de los 
Cipreses, sometimes known as the Patio de la Reja. It, 


54 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





Linares 


THE MESQUITA OF EL PARTAL 


too, has a fountain and feathery old cypresses to give 
it charm and mystery. Perhaps this little spot appeals 
to some of us as particularly livable because less foreign 
to Western traditions, although archeologists despise it 
as dating only to the seventeenth century and devote 
their attention to the forlorn ruin of a Moorish parterre 
that is being excavated outside the Mexuar, near by. 
Beyond the eastern wall, not far from the palace, is 
the little mosque of E/ Partal. The simple lines, the door- 
way finished in a horseshoe arch, and the twin windows 
of this Mesquita make it more interesting than some of 
the more ambitious structures. Near it are two marble 
lions spouting into a pool. The gardens of the Cuarto 
Real de Santo Domingo are also associated with the 





ALHAMBRA 


2) 


PATIO DE LOS CIPRESES 





MOORISH INFLUENCE IN ANDALUSIA — 57 


Moors, who are supposed to have used the large pool at 
the Alcazar de Genil for sham naval fights, while the ad- 
jacent building sheltered the spectators. 

The pleasure-grounds of the Alcazar at Seville com- 
bine both Renaissance and Moorish architecture, so they 
will be described in a later chapter. In other parts of 
Spain are vestiges of Moorish gardens, but generally 
too incomplete to be of interest except to archeologists. 
The bosky terraces and patios at the Generalife and the 
Alhambra are the most delightful interpretations in 
Spain of the Moorish love for open-air living-rooms. 
Chief among their characteristics are the small scale, the 
freedom of expression, and the varied use of water. As 
paradise is described in the Koran, so do they include 
“shadows long extended, near running water, in the 
midst of fruit-trees.”’ In the Palace of the 4/hambra, on 
the wall of the “‘Hall of the Two Sisters” are inscribed 
these significant verses: 

“T am the garden, and every morning am [| revealed 
In new beauty. Observe how I am adorned and you 
will reap the benefit of a commentary on decoration. 
How many delightful prospects I enfold! Prospects in 
which the enlightened mind finds the fulfilment of every 
desire 





THE PATIO AT EL RAXA 


GOA Pag eebiT 
ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA 


Durinc the age of chivalry the little island of Majorca 
led an interesting life, and the glory of those days has 
never been forgotten there. After the Vandals had seized 
it and the other Balearic Islands from the Romans in the 
fifth century and were in their turn driven out by the 
Visigoths, the Moors established their ascendancy and 
brought comparative peace and plenty for about four 
and a half centuries. Then, in 1232, King Jayme of 
Aragon sailed with a small army from Barcelona and 
conquered the Moors, leaving the islands upon his death 
to one of his sons as a separate kingdom. With the mar- 





THE RECTORY OF SAN LORENZO, MAJORCA 


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ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA 61 


riage of Ferdinand and Isabella, it became part of Spain, 
but continued to retain its privileges and to preserve Its 
individuality. Under Spanish rule it has fortunately 
been almost unknown to history; even Baedeker omitted 
to mention its existence until within the last decade. 
Now, however, tourists are beginning to go there in large 
numbers, and before long its out-of-the-world atmo- 
sphere may be lost forever. 

Reminders of the long Moorish occupation are still 
to be discovered throughout Majorca. The Moors erected 
the watch-towers that crown the hills and rocky crags 
along the coast, they planted the ancient olive-trees, 
and constructed some of the country-seats with clusters 
of farm-buildings known by the Arabic name alqueria. 
Even the men’s baggy Turkish trousers and the veils 
worn by the women until recently were remnants of 
Moorish fashions. The Aragonese and the Moors, who 
ventured to remain, intermarried to some extent and 
lived side by side on friendly terms. 

Among the knights whom King Jayme the Conqutsta- 
dor brought with him from Aragon to subdue the Moors 
were twenty-five or thirty who were rewarded by being 
given large Majorcan estates, formerly belonging to the 
Moors. Many of their descendants still hold this pro- 
perty and continue to be among the ruling class. Sureda, 
Zaforteza, and Fortuny are ever names to conjure with all 
over the island. On their alquerias are the most interest- 
ing country-houses and gardens. None of these old resi- 


62 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


dences betray a trace of architectural pretentiousness; 
probably the owner and the master-builder constructed 
them without expert assistance and their great charm 1s 
their unaffected simplicity. 

Nature has provided conditions exceptionally favor- 
able for horticulture and its architectural accessories. 
The rocky hillsides are easily quarried, and supply differ- 
ent kinds of limestone and marble admirable in color and 
texture for fountains, stairways, and walls. Mountain- 
brooks furnish a plentiful water-supply. In the wonderful 
climate, milder in winter than that of the French Riviera, 
almost all vegetation seems to grow luxuriantly. When 
the almond-trees bloom in February, their dreamlike 
beauty is indescribable. Nothing could be more beautiful 
than the soft pink clouds of blossoms contrasting with the 
gray mountain-peaks that rise above them in the back- 
ground. 

In Palma are several patios worth visiting, some of 
them adjoining the ancient houses of the Majorcan 
knights. Next the Cathedral on the water-front is the 
Archbishop’s palace, with a garden especially interesting 
because of its associations with Raimondo Lullo, the 
famous martyr. Here he was overwhelmed by a celestial 
vision, which led him to renounce the flesh and the devil 
and to begin a new life by pilgrimages to Montserrat and 
Santiago. The cloisters of the monastery outside the 
church of San Francisco are attractive; the garth is 
divided into quarters by flagged walks and planted with 





THE ARCHBISHOPS GARDEN, PALMA 


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ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA 6s 


* Se ee 


co 





A STAIRWAY AT BENDINAT 


trees and flowers. King Jayme II founded the monastery 
to please his son, who became a Franciscan monk. In the 
church lie the remains of Raimondo Lullo beneath a 
marble effigy. 

Within walking distance of the city and easily reached 
by tramway is the wonderful fifteenth-century circular 
castle of Bellver which no one should fail to visit. Not 
far from there is Bendinat, where the Conquistador gave 
thanks for a welcome meal after his first victory, saying, 
** Havem ben dinat,” meaning, “I have dined well.” The 
gardens at Bendinat are comparatively modern, but very 
well kept up and worth seeing for the sake of noting the 
different kinds of plants growing there. 

Below Bellver on a hillside sloping down to the shore 
of the Mediterranean is the pretty seaside resort of Ter- 


66 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


reno. [hough not many of the houses are old, the soft 
pinks, blues, and greens of their stucco walls produce a 
picturesque effect. Gardens surround the dwellings, and 
a number of the charming little dooryards to be seen 
from the road would repay study. In winter many Eng- 
lish people and a few Americans live there. A tram-line 
running frequently through the town brings it within 
easy reach of Palma. 

Many good roads radiate from this ancient capital to 
different parts of the island. An automobile can take a 
traveller from there to almost any point and back again 
on the same day. More time would be required to visit 
the town of Pollensa with an old Moorish castle adjacent, 
far away at the north overlooking a beautiful bay. Some 
of the artists living here have gardens well worth seeing. 
It would be interesting to explore Son Heretat, Son An- 
tich, Son Berga, and several other places mentioned by 
the Archduke Ludwig Salvator, to see if the terraces and 
pergolas he described are still there. Everywhere I went I 
had glimpses of flower-beds and many quaint architec- 
tural features. It was a pleasure to see such delightful 
results accomplished with so little apparent effort. 

The larger country-houses, ornamented with ajimez or 
twin windows divided by slender marble columns like 
those in the Palace of the Alhambra, are usually built 
around courtyards not necessarily rectangular and almost 
invariably centring upon a well-head of limestone or 
marble. Each garden is a law unto itself, and may be 


ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA 67 


sequestered in a spot difficult to locate, but generally it is 
placed on terraces near the house, which is preferably 
on a hillside commanding an extensive view. There is 
a great variety of pergolas and ornamental well-heads. 
Clear streams of water rise above fountain-basins, tumble 
below in cascades, and lie stored in large reservoirs that 
mirror the azure sky and the enchanting scenery. 

One of the old country-seats, where the charm of 
Moorish influence still pervades the atmosphere, is E/ 
Raxa. It lies about seven miles from Palma on the in- 
teresting road to Soller and occupies the site of a Moorish 
alqueria. Other farms belonging to distinguished Mos- 
lems were in this neighborhood. After the defeat of the 
Moors, in the redistribution of their lands, £/ Raxa was 
given 1n 1234 to the sacristan of the Cathedral at Gerona, 
as the Archbishop there had assisted the Conquistador by 
furnishing thirty mounted men-at-arms for his expedi- 
tion to Majorca. Later this estate was inherited by the 
family of Cardinal Despuig, who added to the buildings 
in the seventeenth century. Eventually the Cardinal’s 
fine collection of classic sculpture and other relics, many 
of them exhumed at his villa near Albano, was installed 
here. The rambling house, evidently enlarged from time 
to time, is spacious and substantially built, but belongs 
to no one, particular style. In the centre is a simple 
patio shaded by a large elm and furnished with a char- 
acteristic well. On the south side of the house a pleasant 


and rather commonplace parterre covers a broad ter- 


68 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


race overlooking the valley, clothed with groves of 
gnarled olive-trees, some of them so ancient that they are 
believed to have been planted by the Moors. An old 
labyrinth is on another terrace near the house. 

The great attraction of El Raxa, however, lies in the 
series of terraced gardens north of the house, clinging 
by means of retaining walls to a steep hillside. Since 
these terraces are eight in number, corresponding to the 
eight paradises in the Koran that inspired similar series 
of platforms in Persia, it may not seem too far-fetched 
to suggest that they were first laid out by the Moors and 
much later embellished with some of the Cardinal’s 
Italian spoils. 

A beautifully proportioned stairway of soft gray stone, 
mottled by orange lichens, leads from the level on which 
the house stands, far up to a walled recess surmounted 
by columns and a statue. Below them are stone benches 
and a fountain. In the background is a grove of Aleppo 
pines whose ancestors may have been brought by the 
Arabian settlers. Rivulets run through open gutters to 
irrigate the flower-beds and supply the fountains. At 
the posts ending the retaining-walls on each side of the 
stairway, streams gush from leonine masks and fall into 
small basins only to overflow into larger ones below and 
be carried away in tiny canals. Quaint stone statues, 
alternating with vases of flowers and crouching lions, 
stand on these posts and are very effective. 

In contrast with the stone-work are the orange- and 





THE SUMMIT OF THE STAIRWAY, EL RAXA - 





ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA 71 


lemon-trees, oleanders and cypresses, that fill the ter- 
races almost to the exclusion of any flowering plants. 
Yet geraniums climb over the retaining-walls, and here 


and there are deep blue iris, clumps of pink stock, and 





THE TOPMOST TERRACE, EL RAXA 


yellow ixia. Gray and green are the predominant colors. 
Dark shadows lie under the trees, and sunlight only filters 
through the leafy branches. The cool, mysterious effect 
is somehow suggestive of fairyland. 

>What struck me especially about the architecture and 


72 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


sculpture was its unusually small scale. The terraces are 
only twelve or thirteen feet wide, the statues are hardly 
more than half life-size, and the fountain-basins diminu- 
tive, but all in perfect proportion. Part of the charm 
comes from the apparent lack of premeditation in the 
different effects and the centuries of time that have 
rounded off all the corners and given the stone-work the 
mellow look that comes only with age. 

There 1s no line of demarcation between the terraces 
I have described and the surrounding ground, which has 
been left almost entirely to nature. From the uppermost 
level a wide path skirts the hillside in both directions. 
To the right it leads towards a point where there is a 
wonderful view over the rich plain planted with olives 
and almonds as far as Palma and the sea. On one side 
of this path is a parapet covered with potted plants, 
while on the other a continuous row of stone benches 
follows the line of the bank and makes it possible to sit 
down anywhere at pleasure. On the left the path con- 
tinues through groves of pines past a reservoir that looks 
large until farther along another 1s reached many times 
its size. [This miniature lake is approached by an orna- 
mental flight of steps ending in a stone platform, near 
the water, with a table and benches conveniently placed 
there. A sharp declivity falls below the outer edge of the 
lake, and in the background rises a dark, rocky mountain. 
Still another beautiful view can be obtained by following 
a new path up to the summit of the hill where there is a 


VXVU 1a SUIOANASAY AOUVT AHL 








ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA 78 





Trujol 


THE LARGE RESERVOIR, EL RAXA 


little summer-house, built about seventy-five years ago. 

Not far from E/ Raxa is Valldemosa, with its ancient 
Carthusian monastery. It lies on a hillside overlooking 
a lovely valley frowned upon by sombre mountain peaks. 
The Arab rulers, who always rejoiced to contemplate 
striking scenery, had their summer-residence here. After 
the conquest of the Moors, King Sancho built a castle on 
this site in order to engage in hawking and other field 
sports. Later the religious zeal of King Martin led him, in 
1399, to grant it to the Carthusians for a monastery, and 
the spacious apartments were devoted to the use of 
monks. They increased the number of the buildings, in 
the course of time, and dwelt there until the suppression 


76 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


of the order early in the nineteenth century, when the 
buildings passed into private hands. Now the tenants are 
chiefly artists. 

Each so-called ‘“‘cell” 1s in reality one of a block of 
twelve little houses and chapels. Every monk had also 
his own garden. It is worth while to visit them to see 
how much can be made of a tiny plot of ground. In two 
of these dwellings George Sand and Chopin spent a few 
miserable, stormy weeks during the winter of 1838, and 
he wrote his Preludes there. Her letters from Majorca 
are not flattering to the inhabitants, but her descriptions 
of the landscape and of the monastery depict them 
vividly as they exist to-day. Of her garden, only twenty 
feet square, she writes: “‘As for the parterre planted 
with pomegranates, lemons, and oranges, surrounded by 
paved walks, shaded as well as the tank by a fragrant 
arbor; it is like a pretty room made of flowers and green- 
ery. Here the monk could pace in moist weather with- 
out wetting his feet, and refresh the soil with water from 
the tank when the sun was hot, inhale the perfume of the 
orange-trees, whose tufted branches raised beneath his 
eyes a canopy shining with flowers and fruit, and con- — 
template in perfect peace the landscape at the same time 
austere and gracious, melancholy and magnificent... 
in fine cultivate to please his eyes rare and precious 
flowers, gather to quench his thirst the most delicious 
fruit, listen to the sublime sound of the ocean, regard the 
splendor of summer nights under a superb sky, and wor- 


ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA a7 


ship the Eternal in the most beautiful temple that was 
ever offered to man in the bosom of nature.”’ 

Two cloister-garths in the monastery are interesting. 
One, at the end of the older part of the building, is sur- 
rounded by a Gothic arcade connecting it with the rooms 
that used to be occupied by the holy Prior. Very shady 
it is, planted chiefly with ferns, and looks green and rest- 
ful. Some members of the distinguished Sureda family 
now live here. The second, an eighteenth-century court, 
is described in Chapter VI, among other smaller gardens 
and patios. 

Late one afternoon, on the way back from Miramar or 
V alldemosa to Palma, I climbed a high hill by automobile 
and found a substantial manor-house called Sa Coma. 
Some picturesque terraces here were laid out in no 
particular relation to the house. In one of them was 
what I had learned in Barcelona to call a glorteta, a sort 
of little temple made of cypresses to look like the pa- 
vilions that often crown wells in the centre of monas- 
tic cloisters. Tall cypresses also enclosed most of this 
terrace, with their tops clipped in ornamental shapes. 
Darkness prevented my exploring these grounds very 
thoroughly, but I imagine that other interesting spots 
probably exist there. 

Above the steep cliffs on the seacoast a few miles from 
Valldemosa \ies Miramar, the extensive country-seat of 
the late Austrian Archduke Ludwig Salvator. Near two 
of his residences, which are still occupied by his heirs, 


78-- SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARD EMS 


are small, romantic gardens. One of these buildings con- 
tains a very interesting collection of old Majorcan furni- 
ture, pottery, and tiles that are frequently shown to 
visitors. The associations of this locality with Raimondo 
Lullo, who taught Arabic ina college built on the hillside 
with the sanction of Pope John XXI, and the beauti- 
ful views of the wild mountain-tops and the steep rocky 
cliffs rising from the sea, are the chief reasons for 
going there. At several vantage-points the Archduke 
erected masonry platforms surrounded by low parapets, 
closely resembling Persian roof-terraces. The miniature 
marble temple near the water was also built at his insti- 
gation. 

Another alqueria, where a few curious vestiges of archi- 
tecture still attest to its Moorish origin, is called Alfabia, 
and is near the town of Bunola. After the Conquest it 
was apportioned to the celebrated Count of Roussillon, 
uncle of the Conqueror, and one of the bravest of the 
knights who aided the expeditionary force. He gave it 
to Juan Bennasser, the son of the Moor Benhabet, the 
former owner, whom King Jayme describes in his *‘ Chron- 
icle’’ as having supplied him with food at a critical time 
during the siege of Palma. ‘“‘He was an angel of God,” 
writes Don Jayme. ‘‘No one need be surprised if We so 
describe him even if he was a Saracen, for he relieved us 
from such great distress that We consider him an angel 
and to an angel alone can We compare him.” 

The entrance to the patio at d/fabia is through an im- 





A PERGOLA AT ALFABIA 





ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA SI 


posing archway with an interestingly ornamented Moor- 
ish ceiling. At the rear of the house is a garden that has 
been allowed to grow wild, but has not lost its charm. Its 
shady, winding walks suggest the narrow Moorish streets 





ENTRANCE TO PATIO, ALFABIA ts 
curved to avoid continuous exposure to the sun. From 
the patio, with its central fountain, another archway 
leads through a passage under the house to a small terrace 
and up some steps to a path connecting the house with a 
fine avenue of lime-trees ending at a high stucco facade, 


82, SPANISH“AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


with a wall-fountain in the centre and doors on each side. 
Upon entering, a window in the wall at the right opens 
upon a large reservoir. It is a surprise to find no building 
of any size behind the facade, nor are there any flower- 





FOUNTAIN, ALFABIA 


gardens, though possibly there may once have been 
a parterre, in the field where only vegetables are grown 
now. However, there still exists a long and very beautiful 
pergola with thirty-two octagonal stone columns in the 
Moorish style, supporting a coved roof overrun by vines. 


ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA 83 


At the ends of the pergola are little pavilions furnished 
with stone tables, and between the columns are stone 
jars. When the water is turned on, it spurts from holes in 
the middle of the tables, and from the mouths of the Jars, 
showering the chequered pebble pavement while taking 
the unwary visitor by surprise. 





PSLERGOLA AT LA GRAN|TA DE FORTOUNY 


Northwest of Palma, not far from Esporlas, is per- 
haps the most beautiful country-house to be found on the 
island, known as La Granja de Fortuny. It forms asquare 
slightly irregular in shape around a large patio. On the 
side facing down the valley an open gallery, with an 
arcade of marble columns supporting the roof, 1s strik- 
ingly picturesque. At the division of the land after the 
Conquest, it fell to Count Sarry, who lent it to be used 


84. SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





A PERGOLA OVER A WELL AT CANET 


for a while as a Cistercian convent. Behind the house is 
a small garden laid out towards the end of the eighteenth 
century in the so-called Romantic style. The paths are 
serpentine and the beds very irregular in shape, the ap- 
parent object being to avoid the use of any straight lines. 
At the back of this garden ts a high cliff forming a rock- 
garden and ingeniously scaled by a chain of paths and 
stairways. Above is a pergola and a quaint little bath- 
house. | 

Below the road, as it approaches the villa, is a long per- 
gola, with a slightly arched roof made of wooden rafters 
covered with brushwood, and ending in a small pavilion. 
On the side towards the road it is protected by a wall 
about four feet high, but on the opposite side the square 


ON THE ISLAND OF MAJORCA Se 





A GROUP OF ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AT CANET 


posts rest on a low parapet that is covered with a long line 
of potted plants of many different kinds. Amaryllis, lav- 
ender, dusty-miller, geraniums in variety, chrysanthe- 
mums, and many others jostle each other with no regard 
for rhyme or reason. An ancient yew tree stands at the 
end near the steps. 

In the same direction as Esporlas is an old place, named 
Canet, celebrated at the time of the Conquest on account 
of a valuable spring. After the Christians had pitched 
one of their camps beside this mountain-brook in order to 
make sure of a supply of good water during the long siege 
of Palma, they discovered that a wily Moslem named 
Fateh-Billah and some of his followers were trying to 
divert the stream near its source. The Count of Roussil- 


86 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


lon and his comrade Bernard de Santa Eugenia de Torella 
surprised the Moors in making this attempt, and defeated 
them so thoroughly that the besiegers never suffered from 
further interference from outside during the siege. King 
Jayme rewarded Torella by making him the first governor 
of Majorca and by giving him this property, which has 
remained in the hands of his family ever since then. 
Two high gateposts near the road mark the entrance, 
and from it a broad grass path ascends a steep incline 
to a spacious mansion. The hillside is clothed with beau- 
tiful pines, and at the left, halfway up to the house, is a 
very quaint little parterre with beds partly edged with 
box and partly with euonymus. A screen of cypresses 
rises on one side leaving lower enclosing hedges for the 
remainder. From the terrace in front of the house is 
an extensive view. Below at the left lies a large walled 
garden. At the right beyond the duck-pond is a group 
of those simple architectural features that are often found 
in Majorca in the most unexpected and secluded places. 
On a stone platform stands a well-head, and near it, 
against a vine-covered wail, are a bench and table also 
of gray stone. In the distance beautiful hills hide the 


horizon. 


Clabaver lisse IY 
THE CLOISTER-GARTH 


To enjoy the cloisters opening from so many of the 
Spanish churches and monasteries, it is not necessary to 
have any knowledge of archeology or much information 
concerning successive styles of architecture. Spanish arch- 
itects have never been bound by hard-and-fast rules, and 
they have not hesitated to borrow beautiful ideas from 
widely differing sources and to introduce them when- 
ever and however they pleased. The unity and purity 
of style usually considered essential by critics, and carried 
to such perfection in Italy and France, was neither de- 
sired nor achieved by those who erected the most char- 
acteristic buildings in Spain. Annoying and puzzling as 
this confusion is to art historians and archeologists, it 
is somewhat of a relief to find a country where one’s 
pleasure is not dependent upon the weight of one’s in- 
tellectual baggage. 

Certain influences did predominate from time to time, 
of course. During the rule of the Visigoths there was a 
style which they probably brought with them as a re- 
sult of their former intercourse with Persia, Armenia, and 
the Byzantine Empire; this was modified by contact with 
the Moors after their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. 
Later French and Flemish Gothic besides Italian Renais- 


88 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


sance had their innings, but were changed enough to be in 
harmony with Spanish traditions. So, while a church or 
monastery may have been hundreds of years in the mak- 
ing, and any number of architects may have had a hand 
in developing it upon very different lines, the general effect 
is usually altogether delightful. Heretics, like Augustus 
Saint-Gaudens, who seldom willingly entered a cathedral 
in France, wax enthusiastic about the churches they have 
discovered on the lesser-known side of the Pyrenees. 
The manner of treating the columns and arches form- 
ing an arcade around the outside of the cloisters helps to 
determine the style of a building and the period when it 
was erected. Reduced to their simplest elements, the 
round arch distinguishes the Romanesque, the horseshoe 
arch is characteristic of the Moorish, and the pointed 
arch marks the Gothic style. The simplicity of the early 
Gothic, as perhaps originally brought from the Near 
East and reintroduced by the Cistercians from France 
in the twelfth century, later developed into the florid 
style created by Flemish architects, ending in the Plat- 
eresque, with its ornamentation suggestive of gold- 
smiths’ work. Moorish influence had its effect long after 
the Reconquest and reappears in many different forms. 
When. the Italian Renaissance revived an interest in 
classic Roman and Greek art, its different phases were 
reflected in Spain, sometimes with the severe simplicity 
of the Escorial and sometimes in the most ornate mani- 
festations of the Baroque, as in the Cartuja at Granada. 





CLOISTERS, VALLDEMOSA, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 





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THE CLOISTER-GARTH gI 


A pilgrimage to Montserrat is a fitting preliminary to 
visiting the monastic cloisters and attempting to enter 
into the lives of the religious devotees who made them 





MONTSERRAT, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 


their homes. No words can describe this strange solitary 
mountain rising high above an undulating plateau. Its 
jagged peaks, suffused with the soft rich colors seen in 
the Grand Canyon, have always filled men with awe and 
become associated in their minds with some deep mys- 


92 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


tery. Legends relate that these serrated peaks, from 
which it takes its name, were rent asunder at the time 
of the crucifixion, and that somewhere on its slopes was 
erected the castle in which was guarded the Holy Grail. 
The Monasterio del Montserrat was built to enshrine an 
image of the Madonna supposed to have been carved by 
Saint Luke, then brought by Saint Peter to Barcelona 
early in the first century, and afterward hidden from the 
Moors in a cave on the mountainside. Nuestra Senora de 
Montserrat is the patron saint of Catalonia and thou- 
sands of pilgrims worship at her shrine. Here came Rai- 
mondo Lullo when he had resolved to abandon the gay 
life of a courtier in Palma and devote himself to the 
service of God, and here Saint Ignatius of Loyola in the 
chapel of the great Benedictine abbey kept vigil ali night 
at the Lady altar before laying aside his sword and taking 
the solemn vows that eventually led to his becoming the 
founder of the Society of Jesus. Only fragments of the 
early monastery remain, but there is still an old cypress 
walk leading to the Mirador of the monks with a bench 
overlooking the marvellously dramatic landscape; above 
are volcanic mountain-crests half-clothed with the soft, 
shimmering foliage of wild olives; below stretches an un- 
dulating plain far away to the snow-capped Apennines — 
a rare manifestation of nature that brings men nearer to 
God and attunes them to the Infinite. 

Stories, seemingly incredible, kept alive for centuries 
by unverified traditions, have been curiously substan- 


THE CLOISTER-GARTH 93 


tiated by recent investigators. Actually there is reason 
to believe that the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint James 
the Greater visited Spain and made converts to Chris- 
tianity there about the year 33 of our era. It is also prob- 
able, after Saint James died a martyr’s death in Judza, 
that several of his Spanish disciples brought back his 
body for burial in their native country. The discovery 
of his remains in the ninth century undoubtedly led to a 
great religious revival that strengthened the monastic 
orders and inspired the Christians to fight with such in- 
tense ardor, under the Saint’s ghostly leadership, that 
eventually they completely routed the Moslems. At 
Santiago de Campostela Saint James’s relics now lie 
buried in the Cathedral, which is the finest example of 
the early Romanesque style in Spain. The cloisters 
there, as well as those in the Hospital Real, founded by 
the Catholic Kings and designed by Enrique de Egas in 
the Plateresque style, are very interesting. 

Certain monastic orders became powerful and then 
gave place to others in Spain as elsewhere. The first to 
flourish were the Benedictines. Their founder, Saint 
Benedict, discouraged the flagellations and manifesta- 
tions of asceticism, carried to such extremes by the early 
Christian hermits like Saint Anthony and practiced to- 
day in some parts of the Levant. That even the hermits 
sometimes enjoyed tending plants, is shown in an old 
illumination where one of them stands nearest to heaven 
among all the different men of religion, mounting the 


94 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Ladder to Perfection, but is held back by his fondness 
for his garden. In his own words Saint Benedict strove 
to establish ‘“‘a school for the service of the Lord.” His 
motto might have been Laborare est orare, and the kind 
of work upon which he laid great emphasis, and to which 
his followers devoted even more time than to prayer, 
was agriculture, including horticulture. Thus, within 
the walls of the Benedictine monasteries were large 
gardens cultivated by the monks in common, and often 
smaller plots assigned to the Abbot and to the chief 
almoner of the community. Here flowers, despised by 
many primitive Christians as Pagan emblems, were now 
grown to deck the altars in the churches. The rose, the 
lily, and the iris were held in high esteem and had sym- 
bolic significance. At Subiaco, near one of the hated 
Nero’s artificial lakes, is the cave where Saint Benedict 
spent years in solitude and prayer. Close by, stands the 
monastery of Saint Scholastica which he founded. Here 
is still preserved a little garden filled with roses said to 
be those in whose beauty he delighted and with whose 
thorns he used to mortify his flesh when struggling to 
drive away thoughts of the beautiful temptress who 
sometimes haunted his day-dreams. 

The plan of the ancient monastery of Saint Gall, in 
Switzerland, familiar to Charlemagne, still exists, and 
supplies us with much valuable information as to the 
arrangement of a great religious establishment belong- 


ing to the Benedictines in the ninth century. This was 


THE CLOISTER-GARTH 95 
the prevalent type of plan adopted by their Order in 


other countries, and, although it underwent certain 
modifications, it always remained essentially the same. 
The cultivated grounds within the walled enclosure 
consisted of four divisions: the cloister-garth, the physic- 
garden, the vegetable-garden, and a combination of 
orchard and burial-ground. The cloister-garth was a 
square, planted with grass and shrubs, and divided by 
two intersecting paths into four equal quarters. In the 
centre was a savina supplying water for drinking and 
washing purposes. These cloisters were south of the 
church and surrounded by the other more important 
communal buildings. 

In general appearance the monastic cloisters bear a 
strong resemblance to the Oriental court, the Greek peri- 
style, and the Roman atrium, but one marked differ- 
ence is that in classic courtyards the columns stand on the 
ground, while in the cloisters they rest on a parapet. 
The reason for placing them south of the church was in 
order that, unshadowed by its lofty walls, the monks 
might have the full benefit of the sun as they paced up 
and down the corridor reciting their prayers, or sat on 
the benches either studying religious books or wrapped 
in contemplation. But it is recorded that gossiping in the 
corners of cloisters often gave occasion for doing penance. 

Symbolically the cloister represented in a moral sense 
the contemplation into which the soul withdrew itself 
and hid, after being separated from carnal thoughts, and 


96 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


where it reflected upon the only true blessings — those 
of heaven. The four enclosing walls symbolized con- 
tempt for one’s self, contempt for the world, love of 
one’s neighbor, and love of God. The grass plot was 
sometimes called ‘‘paradise,” signifying to the monks 
the increase of their virtues. 

The walls of the cloister were usually painted with 
frescoes representing scenes from the Old and New Testa- 
ments like those in the Monasterio Real at Pedralbes and 
ornamenting the cloisters of Leon Cathedral. Unique 
features in the cloisters of the cathedral at Burgos, which 
are unusually varied and full of interest, are the paintings 
on the upper part of the walls distinctly showing Moorish 
influence. There is also much beautiful carving on the 
capitals of the columns and on the abaci above them. 
Sometimes the subjects chosen were more humorous than 
religious, as can be seen in the funny little stories illus- 
trated above the columns in the cloisters of the cathedral 
of Tarragona. The doorways also furnished opportuni- 
ties for elaborate carving and fine wrought-iron -work. 
When the cloisters were used as burial-places for mem- 
bers of the royal family and other persons of unusual dis- 
tinction, their tombs were often beautiful as well as 
interesting on account of their association. 

After each Barbarian invasion it was the clergy who 
tried to redeem what was left of civilization. In the early 
monasteries gardens were a necessity, not only to supply 
the monks with vegetables and herbs for food and medi- 


THE CLOISTER-GARTH 97 


cine, but with flowers which, in the words of one of the 
Merovingian kings, gave pleasure through their beauty 
and fragrance besides serving to ornament the churches 
on feast-days. Vineyards and orchards were also com- 
monly cultivated by the monks. Another necessity was 
a fish-pond, or at least a tank where fish could be kept 
alive, and which might also serve for ducks and swans. 
During the latter half of the sixth and seventh centu- 
ries, after the Visigoths had expelled the Vandals and 
established themselves as the rulers of Spain in place of 
the Pagan representatives of the Roman Empire, Chris- 
tianity spread through the chief cities. Churches and 
monasteries were erected in many of the prosperous 
towns, such as Toledo, Granada, Cordova, and Mérida, 
but none of them exist to-day except in a very fragmen- 
tary condition. Far away in the north, at Oviedo in the 
former kingdom of Asturias never wholly conquered by 
the Moors, are three churches dating from the ninth 
century that are among the most ancient still extant. 
Two other churches not far from Oviedo, San Miguel 
de Linio and Santa Cristina, have certain features of 
Oriental origin, the most curious being tribunes behind 
the altar, probably screened with lattice-work like the 
rooms set apart for female worshippers opening into the 
Moslem mosques and intended to seclude the women 
who took part in the services. The black veils still so 
commonly worn by Spanish women are a relic of those 
many centuries, when, like their Moslem sisters, they 


98 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


never appeared in public without having their faces con- 
cealed. That there were monasteries is known, because 
some of the abbots took part in the Councils of Toledo, 
but little can be told about them except that they did not 
belong to the Benedictine Order, which 1s not recorded as 
existing in Spain before the ninth century. 

In Catalonia, the northeastern province, where the 
Moors were not allowed to stay long, are also some of 
the most ancient churches and monasteries. Among the 
oldest cloisters there are those connected with the Bene- 
dictine church of San Pedro de los Galligans at Gerona, 
with its quaint minaret belfry like those rising above the 
Great Mosque of Damascus. The columns and arches, 
surrounding the four-square garth well planted with 
trees and flowers, cause it to be considered one of the 
best examples of the Romanesque style. It 1s now oc- 
cupied by the provincial Archeological Museum. The 
cloisters of the Gerona Cathedral, too, are worth seeing 
as being of the Romanesque period, and there are others 
in the town of considerable interest. Simpler than any 
of these, but very attractive, is the court of the Monas- 
tery at Banolas, in this same district. 

For a time Mistress of the Mediterranean as Venice 
was Queen of the Adriatic during part of the Middle 
Ages, Barcelona has always been the richest city in Cata- 
lonia and the custodian of many fine buildings. The 
oldest church is San Pedro de las Puellas, but its cloisters 
were destroyed long ago. Luckily, however, those belong- 





Mas 


MONASTERY, BANOLAS 


CLOISTERS, 





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ERGs Re GA RE IOI 


ing to the early part of the twelfth century, connected 
with the Romanesque church of San Pablo del Campo, 
where the kings used to be anointed, are still intact, out- 
side the old walls of the city. The little garth, surrounded 
by Saracenic cusped arches and pairs of columns with 





CLOISTERS, SAN PABLO ‘he 
carved capitals, is a favorite resort for architectural stu- 
dents. Since its location is particularly accessible, almost 
every one who visits Barcelona will stumble by accident 
into the cloisters running off at a tangent from the col- 
legiate church of Santa Ana, but, although their archi- 
tecture is good, they are unplanted and present a rather 


1oz2 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


forlorn appearance. On the contrary the Benedictine 
monastery of San Cugat del Vallés, outside the city be- 
yond Tidibabo, is seldom visited, although in some ways 
it is the most interesting specimen of early monastic 
architecture in this part of the province, with beautiful 
Romanesque cloisters shaded by flourishing laurel-trees. 
San Cugat and Santa Eulalia are the two patron saints of 
Barcelona. Some superb Romanesque cloisters are con- 
nected with the Benedictine monastery of Santo Domingo 
de Silo, near Burgos, and in other places far afield. 

As the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia belongs to the four- 
teenth century and is not Romanesque, but in a style 
peculiar to itself, designed by Don Jayme Fabre of Palma, 
I have left it until the last, although the cloisters there are 
more beautiful than any of those mentioned previously. 
To enter from the dark, crowded street into this peace- 
ful enclosure, where the sun shone on the masses of 
greenery, gave me an unfailing pleasure. It has been so 
well described by George Edmond Street, whose valu- 
able ‘‘ Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain” has been 
brought up to date by Georgiana Goddard King, that I 
shall venture to quote from his book. The traceries have 
been restored, the cats no longer played around when I| 
was there, nor could I find the little Saint George and the 
Dragon, but the fat geese were waddling about serenely 
and in every other way this description remains accurate: 

‘The cloisters are not good in their detail, but yet are 
very pleasant; they are full of orange-trees, flowers, and 





- 


Laurent 


A FOUNTAIN, CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS, BARCELONA 





THE CLOISTER-GARTH 105 


fountains. One of these is in a projecting bay at the 
northeast internal angle, and is old; another by its 
side has a little Saint George and the Dragon, with the 
horse’s tail formed by a jet of water; and a third, and 
more modern, plays in the centre among the flowers. In 
addition there are some geese cooped up in one corner, 
who look as though their lives were being sacrificed in 
order to provide patés for the canons; and finally a troop 
of hungry, melancholy cats, who are always howling and 
prowling about the cloisters and church, and who often 
contrive to get into the choir-stalls just before service, 
whence they are forthwith chased about by the choris- 
ters and such of the clergy as are in their places in good 
time! The cloisters are said to have been completed in 
A.D. 1448, and I have no doubt this date is correct. On 
the exterior they are bounded on three sides by streets and 
on the apsidal ends of the chapels do not show, the wall 
being straight and unbroken. The cloister is lofty and 
has panelled buttresses between the windows, of which 
latter the arches only remain, the traceries having been 
entirely destroyed. The view from hence of the church 
is one of the best that can be obtained, the octagonal 
transept towers being the most marked features. The 
floor is full of gravestones, on which the calling of the 
person commemorated is indicated by a slight carving in 
relief of the implements of his trade.” 

As early as there had been monastic communities for 
men there were convents for women, always including 


106 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


gardens. However, Héloise, the famous Abbess of Para- 
clet, addressed a long remonstrance to the devoted Abé- 
lard complaining that it was unreasonable to subject the 
nuns to the same rules as monks in regard to agriculture 
and horticulture. Physically, she contended, women were 
unfit for much manual labor. An abbess was in a very 
independent position and exercised widespread influence. 
The most important of the Cistercian convents is the 
Monasterio Real de las Huelgas, near Burgos. It was 
founded by Alfonso VIII and his wife, Eleanor of Eng- 
land. They and many of their descendants are buried 
there. The power of the Abbess was immense. She was 
lady-of-the-manor in over sixty towns, held direct com- 
munication with the Pope, and presided over an annual 
synod attended by the abbesses from the many convents 
subject to her jurisdiction. “Should the Pope wish to 
marry, remarked the witty Cardinal Aldobrandini, “‘he 
could not do better than to select the Abbess of Las Huel- 
gas.’’ As might be expected, everything connected with 
this aristocratic establishment is on a handsome scale, 
and the large cloisters given by Saint Ferdinand are still 
remarkable. When the French army was here, early in 
the nineteenth century, they despoiled the tombs and 
desecrated the relics as elsewhere. 

Less well known, as the convent has not the same his- 
toric associations as Las Huelgas and visitors can seldom 
obtain admittance, is the Monasterio Real at Pedralbes, 
near Sarria, above Barcelona, on a high hill. It was 





Mas 


WELL IN CLOISTERS, CISTERCIAN CONVENT, PEDRALBES 


Phat 


bated 





THE CLOISTER-GARTH 109 


founded by Dona Elisenda de Moncada, wife of Jayme I, 
who was the king we chiefly connect with Majorca. For- 
‘tunately the photographs show the unique cloisters 
better than any one could possibly describe them. The 
richly carved arch over the well-head, the long seats en- 
crusted with colored tiles forming a sort of outdoor sit- 
ting-room in the spacious garth shaded by orange-trees, 
are some of the features in the Catalan style that cannot 
be fitted into any especial category. In the thirteenth- 
century Convento de Santa Clara at Moguer, in the south’ 
of Spain, not far from Huelva, the cloisters are also or- 
namented with polychrome tiles and bright with pleasant 
color. 

Among the offshoots of the Benedictine Order, the 
first was that of Cluny, which found its way into Spain 
in the eleventh century and became immensely powerful. 
One of the innovations introduced by the Cluniacs was 
the abolition of manual labor, so gardens in their monas- 
teries were of little importance. Many Cluniac monks 
came to Castile and Leon at the request of Alfonso VI, 
and through them was introduced a more ornate style 
of Gothic architecture. On the contrary, the Cistercians, 
who also built numerous monasteries in Spain, were en- 
joined by the rules of their Order to strive for simplicity. 
They did much to further the progress of agriculture, 
and preferred to build their monasteries in the river- 
valleys, where culture could fertilize the soil and there 
was an abundance of water for irrigation purposes. Saint 


110 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





CLOISTERS, CISTERCIAN CONVENT, PEDRALBES 


Bernard founded the most famous of their communities 
in the wild and gloomy valley of Clairvaux, beside a clear 
stream running through the midst of a dense forest. An 
ardent lover of nature, “‘ Trust one who has tried it, he 
wrote, “‘you will find more in woods than in books; trees 
and stones will teach you what you can never learn from | 
schoolmasters.”’ 

It is an easy trip to go from Barcelona to Tarragona 
and Poblet in order to see some examples of Cistercian 


THE CLOISTER-GARTH java 


architecture and to trace the transition from the Ro- 
manesque to the Gothic style. Although the Cistercians 
were supposed to express their predilection for austerity 
in their external surroundings as well as in their lives, 
this is more evident in the cathedral than in the con- 
struction of the cloisters, which are especially fine. On 
each side are six bays divided into three round arches, 
with rich mouldings supported by pairs of slender 
columns resting on a parapet into which are built a suc- 
cession of seats. Another interesting feature is the rich 
pavement. Quaint little anecdotes, intended to amuse 
rather than to edify, are carved on the blocks above the 
capitals, and the double doorway is chiselled even more 
richly. The recess in the wall is of Moorish appearance, 
as are the traceries in some of the small windows above 
the arches. Spanish disregard for regularity crops out in 
the way one of the corner posts is pushed out of line so 
that it may not obstruct the entrance into the cathedral. 
The fountain in the centre of the garth and the tall 
cedars, combined with oleanders and other broad-leaved 
evergreens, make the garth especially attractive. 

King Jayme I the Conqutstador, who freed Majorca 
and Valencia, was responsible for building the best part 
of the great Cistercian monastery of Poblet, although it 
was founded by one of his predecessors, Ramon Beren- 
guer IV, Count of Barcelona. It was here that King 
Jayme used to come to pray for victory before starting 
out on a perilous expedition. Within the large walled 


112 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





Laurent 


FOUNTAIN HOUSE, POBLET 


enclosure are three different groups of buildings, includ- 
ing two cloisters, a garden, and a mill-pond. In the first 
of these precincts are some interesting stone tanks, 
water-ducts and a well, built in the last half of the six- 
teenth century. The Gothic cloisters next the church 
contain a charming fountain-house almost exactly the 
same as the one in the neighboring Cistercian monastery 
of Santas Creus. Both these monasteries were badly in- 
jured by infuriated mobs during the first half of the 
nineteenth century, and Poblet came off by far the worse 
of the two. 


THE CLOISTER-GARTH inv 


Other cloisters have more to recommend them from 
an architectural standpoint than those adjoining the 
great Gothic cathedral of Toledo, but none of the rest 
have been so fortunate as to be described by Blasco 
Ibanez. Perhaps I may be forgiven for quoting a few 
_ passages from his book ‘‘El Catedral,” since they ex- 
press the atmosphere that seems to pervade the enclosure 
besides giving an accurate picture of its arrangement. 
“Tt had not the brilliant gaiety, overflowing with scents 
and colors, of a garden in the open bathed in full sun- 
light, but it had the shady, melancholy beauty of a con- 
ventual garden between four walls, with no more light 
than what came through the eaves and the arcades, and 
no other birds but those flying above who looked with 
wonder at this little paradise at the bottom of a well. 
The vegetation was the same as that of the Greek land- 
scapes, and of the idylls of the Greek poets — laurels, 
cypresses, and roses; but the arcade that surrounded it, 
with its walk paved with heavy slabs of granite over- 
grown with tufts of grass, the cross on its central arbor, 
the mouldy smell of the old iron gratings, and the damp 
of the stone buttresses colored a soft green by the rain, 
gave the garden an atmosphere of revered antiquity and 
a special character of its own.” The central arbor was 
the meeting-place of the ecclesiastical dignitaries in hours 
of recreation. 

That Philip II chose to stay in a room leading from 
the upper ambulatory during his three or four days’ visit 


114 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


to Toledo rather than to seek more luxurious quarters in 
one of the palaces will surprise no one familiar with the 
mystical side of his character. As King of Spain he was 
by right a canon of the cathedral, and liable to be fined 
for absence from meetings of the chapter. It would be 
interesting to discover whether he ever attended the 
services held, then as now, every morning in the Capzlla 
Mozarabe, according to the Visigothic or Mozarabic ritual, 
another strange link connecting the present with Moslem 
Spain. 

In Toledo lived the first architect to translate Italian 
Renaissance architecture into Spanish. His name was 
Enrique de Egas, and his masterpieces were the Hospital 
de Santa Cruz in Toledo and the Hospital Real at Santi- 
ago de Campostela. The great Cardinal, Don Pedro de 
Mendoza, founded the hospital at Toledo and apparently 
approved the plans. After his death in 1495, Queen Isa- 
bella made a few alterations, but the actual building was 
not begun until a few years later. In the beautiful patio 
the Renaissance, Flemish Gothic, and Mudejar influences 
merge into what 1s known as the Plateresque style, be- 
cause its delicate and rather florid decoration suggests 
goldsmiths’ work. Owing to the kindness of the Cardinal- 
Archbishop of Toledo and of a courteous priest whom he 
sent to act as my guide, I had the pleasure of visiting two 
of the convents otherwise almost inaccessible, as they be- 
long to strict religious orders. One of these was the Fran- 
ciscan nunnery of San Juan de la Penitencia, which was 





CONVENT OF SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA 


b) 


CLOISTERS 





THE CLOISTER-GARTH 5, 


founded by Cardinal Ximenez in 1514. Part of a Moor- 
ish palace has been built into it, and the decoration in 
some places 1s Gothic and in others Moorish and Plater- 
esque. Ihe cloisters are small and charming, with in- 
teresting early Plateresque balustrades and an especially 
pretty gateway opening into the garth with a well-head 
and a thick planting of trees and shrubs. If Egas was 
not employed here, the work must be attributed to one 
of his school. In many respects the Convento de Santa Fé 
is similar. In it, too, are incorporated parts of a much 
older building —a rich palace built by the Visigoths. 
The loggia and window with Moorish decorations, be- 
sides the combination of bricks and tiles used for the 
coping and the pavement under the arcade, are in- 
teresting. Santa Fé originally belonged to the military 
order of the Comendadoras de Santiago, which explains 
the crosses and shells carved on the dark wooden plinths 
above the columns. The nuns who showed us about were 
caballeras or noble ladies, and they looked very pic- 
turesque in their white woollen habits embroidered with 
the red cross of Santiago. Both these secluded cloisters, 
small and unknown to the outside world, have a peculiar 
charm, not only because of their jewel-like architecture, 
but because of the devotional atmosphere unconsciously 
fostered by the saintly women, who have lived and 
prayed there for over four hundred years. 

At Sigiienza the cloisters connected with the cathedral 


are a good example of the early Renaissance in one of Its 


118 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


more florid phases. Cardinal Mendoza helped to com- 
plete them, although they were not finished until 1507, 
twelve years after his death. The garth is laid out with 
flower-beds and a fountain in the centre, marking the 
quincunx design, and is especially attractive because well 
planted and well kept up. 

The Carthusians, belonging to an order founded by 
Saint Bruno in 1084, dwelt in monasteries planned to 
isolate as much as possible each member of the commu- 
nity. This was to fulfil the rules peculiar to their Order 
obliging them to live in absolute silence and solitude. 
Each of the brethren occupied a separate dwelling, to 
which was added in the twelfth century a small garden 
cultivated by its tenant. The Cartuja de Miraflores, out- 
side Burgos, with some fine tombs, is perhaps the most 
celebrated one founded by this Order in Spain and the 
cloisters are easily accessible. Others are at Montalegre, 
near Barcelona and Valldemosa on Majorca. | 

In the thirteenth century the mendicant orders ac- 
quired prominence, and in due season Franciscans, Do- 
_ minicans, and Carmelites began to require establishments 
* in Spain. Some of their monasteries were superb build- 
ings, although the central idea which they were sup- 
posed to emphasize was poverty. Many had interesting 
cloisters, but I cannot even begin to enumerate them. 
Ferdinand and Isabella founded the Dominican monas- 
tery of Santo Tomas outside of Avila and buried there 
Don Juan, their only son. His tomb by an Italian 


THE CLOISTER-GARTH 11g 


sculptor, Domenico Florentino, is one of the finest pieces 
of Renaissance sculpture in Europe. The arcade around 
the largest of the cloisters, made of granite and orna- 
mented with carved balls, is very curious. Another of ex- 





Moreno 


CLOISTERS, SANTO TOMAS, AVILA 


ceptional interest with a garth still filled with verdure is 
ae vuengs at sdlamanca. 

Formerly the Monasterio de Guadalupe was a stopping- 
place for the kings of Spain when they went to visit their 
Portuguese dominions, but since then, until within the 
last few years, it has had few visitors from the outside 
world. Now, however, motors make the journey easy, 


and I can imagine no more interesting place to study 


120 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





Moreno 


FOUNTAIN PAVILION, GUADALUPE 


monastic life of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 
than in this famous monastery, whose fabulous wealth 
was once the pride of the Hieronimite order. In the 
centre of the unique and spacious cloister, with its arches 
in the Moorish style, rises the pinnacle of a marvellous 
glorieta. This central pavilion of brick and terra-cotta 
was built by one of the monks in 1495. Nothing could 
symbolize more beautifully the aspirations of the Hier- 
onimites whose austere lives and profound wisdom gave 
them the protection of many great kings. 

During the nineteenth century the monasteries fell 
upon evil days. Twice the French army invaded Spain 


THE CLOISTER-GARTH 121 


and seemed to take particular pleasure in desecrating 
and looting the churches and monasteries and in robbing 
the dead buried there. Then a succession of civil wars 
and a state of anarchy supervened with almost equally 
disastrous results near Barcelona. Finally the monastic 
lands were secularized, while gradually the monasteries 
were closed and the monks dispersed. Many of the con- 
vents and monasteries were allowed to go to rack and 
ruin, but within recent years some of them have been 
again inhabited by the religious orders and others are 
being rehabilitated by the Government. Seekers for 
cloister-garths may, therefore, be sure of finding some 
of these pleasant monastic recreation-grounds literally 
in blooming condition. Even those that are deserted 
and in a state of dissolution are often not without melan- 
choly beauty and an enduring charm. 





Linares 


FOUNTAIN AND CYPRESS WALK, THE ALCAZAR 


\ 


CHAR TGR Say) 
RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 


THE kings of Spain best known to history were great 
lovers of art and architecture. Not only did they wisely 
patronize the work of contemporary geniuses, but the 
first sovereigns who succeeded the Moorish kings at 
Granada were careful not to injure the beautiful build- 
ings left by their predecessors. After Ferdinand and 
Isabella had conquered the Moors in their last stronghold 
and driven King Boabdil into exile, they themselves went 
to live in the Palace of the A/hambra. Ferdinand gave 
especial instructions that it should not be harmed and 
had it restored by Moorish workmen, so that its original 


RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS | 123 


beauty might be preserved. Eventually it became Isa- 
bella’s favorite residence. Unfortunately, her grandson, 
Charles V, although he had shown regret at the crude 
alterations made by the new owners of the superb mosque 
that remains the chief glory of Cordova, showed. less 
good taste. He planted a massive Renaissance pavilion, 
magnificently designed in the Greco-Roman style, so 
close to the walls of the fairylike Moorish palace that 
it partly destroyed the outer wall of the lovely Patio de 
los Arrayanes which it overiooks. The cost of the build- 
ing was met at first by taxing the baptized Moors in 
return for royal permission to continue wearing their 
turbans, but later they refused to submit to this im- 
position. In the centre of the pavilion is a circular 
patio about a hundred feet in diameter, intended for 
out-of-door entertainments. In the Alcazaba, or Citadel, 
on the opposite side of the Plaza de los Algibes, are the 
Jardines de los Adarbes, with box-edged parterres in 
the fashion of the Renaissance, which afford one of 
those marveilous views that surprise us at every turn 
on the Alhambra Hill. Descending through the Puerta 
Judiciara to the Alameda, with its lofty elms harboring 
bevies of nightingales, it 1s worth while to stop to look 
at the elaborate mural fountain erected by Charles V 
from the design of one of his favorite architects, Pedro 
de Machuca. The sculpture is by Alonso de Mena and 
symbolizes the three rivers of Granada — the Darro, 
the Genil, and the Beiro. In front of it is Charles’s 


124 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


escutcheon executed in the black-and-white pebble-work 
that is to be seen at its best in this part of Andalusia. 
There are several other gardens in the style of the 
Renaissance on the Alhambra Hill, some of them partly 
old and some wholly new. At the Villa de los Martires 
the oldest part of the pleasure-grounds lies hidden be- 
neath the cliff on which the house stands, and can be 
reached by a flight of steps descending near the front 
door. Originally the parterre may have contained 
flowers, but now the box-edging has grown so large 
that small plants would be invisible there. Hidden in 
the midst of the high evergreen hedges in the heart of 
the garden is a fountain with stone vases on its parapet 
and stone benches placed around it at intervals. It is 
surprising te see how much charm and mystery have 
been introducec into this small space by simple means. 
The Christian captives employed to work on buildings 
for the Moorish kimgs were confined at night in vaults 
hewn in the wall of the overhanging cliff, and their pre- 
sence gave the villa its name. Above the house are some 
large Italianate gardens with pools and statuary, and be- 
yond them some more rustic grounds with an artificial 
lake. From the terrace just behind the house there is a 
superb view of the snow-mountains, sparkling in the sun- 
shine against an azure sky, rising directly above the dark 
green leaves of some orange-trees laden with golden fruit. 
Adjoining the Alcazar in Seville are a series of walled 


pleasure-grounds where Moorish and Renaissance archi- 


Sh 


Loseanst 





FOUNTAIN AND BENCHES, ALCAZAR GARDENS 





RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 127, 


tecture are so interwoven that there is no abrupt line 
of transition. The most ancient part of the palace is 
Moorish, and, in spite of having been much altered, it 
retains some of its original charm. Pedro the Cruel, who 
preceded Ferdinand and Isabella, added to the palace 
and brought here as his bride Blanche de Castile, whom 
he deserted three days after the wedding for his beloved 
Maria de Padilla. This favorite had all her whims in- 
dulged by her royal lover. One day, seeing some children 
wading in the mud outside the palace, she begged to 
be allowed to amuse herself in the same way. So to 
please her the floor of one of the courtyards was strewn 
with various rare perfumes like ambergris and then 
sufficiently moistened to dissolve the precious mixture, 
worth a large sum of money, into a sort of glorified slush 
where the lady and her companions disported them- 
selves for a short time. The Baths of Maria de Padilla, 
long stone tanks in a vault under the palace, were 
formerly in the open air somewhat screened by trees. 

In the fourteenth century, with the help of Moorish 
workmen, who followed their own traditions, not at- 
tempting to achieve strict symmetry, Pedro began the 
gardens, in the Mudejar style, that we see to-day. Addi- 
tions and alterations, impossible to define exactly, were 
made by other kings; notably by Charles V, Philip IV, 
and Philip V. The three main divisions are: first, near the 
palace a series of patios beginning at the reservoir with 
those of Maria de Padilla; secondly, the vast enclosure 


128 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





Linares 


GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 


divided by straight brick paths into eight large beds 
bordered by myrtle hedges and planted with such a 
profusion of lofty palms, cedars, blossoming trees, and 
shrubs that flowers seem almost superfluous. Fountain- 
basins and seats, faced with green, blue, and yellow tiles 
at the intersection of the paths, add pleasing notes of 
color in contrast to the hedges half in shadow. Along 
one side runs a high wall with a gallery at the top where 
the king could walk and look down on this lovely pleas- 
aunce. A number of interesting gateways and windows 
have been pierced through the thick partitions on the 
other sides and sometimes there are seats in the em- 
brasures like those so common in medieval castles. 


RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 129 





Linares 


POOL OF JUANA AND PAVILION OF CHARLES V 


Finally, in the third enclosure are flower-beds and two 
pavilions. Beyond is a not especially interesting maze. 

Lady Holland, who visited the Alcazar in 1803, writes 
of it as follows: “‘The gardens are preserved in the 
Moorish style; one part is precisely as at the Con- 
quest ; clipped hedges of myrtle and devices cut upon 
them. Another part was laid out by Dom Pedro; rows 
of myrtle warriors, giants with wooden heads and arms 
carrying in their hands swords, clubs, musical instru- 
ments, etc. Farther is the garden of Charles V, with 
a pavilion for refreshments, a delicious spot. The whole 
garden is full of jets deau, cascades, fountains, and 
water tricks and devices.” 

The indefatigable Charles V created most of this 


1430 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


third division and unfortunately is also responsible for 
the destruction of an old maze laid out by the Moors. 
The plan of this maze was copied on a tile which may 
still be seen on the floor of the pavilion erected by 
Charles, encased with tiles in the Moorish style, and 
shaded by orange- and lemon-trees. A second and still 
more delightful little pleasure-house erected near it at 
about the same time is called by the name of Charles’s 
mother, the mad Juana, through whose husband, 
Philip of Hapsburg, a new line came into possession 
of the Spanish kingdom. While Charles inherited the 
throne of Spain through his mother, it was because of 
his Hapsburg blood that he was elected Roman Emperor 
and crowned at Aix in 1520. Although constantly at 
war, driving back the Turks on the Danube, conquering 
Tunis in Africa, crushing rebellion in the Netherlands, 
and protecting his kingdom of Naples, not to mention 
his several campaigns against Francis I of France and 
the conquest of Spanish America, Charles was praised 
by the Venetian traveller Contarini as not greedy of 
territory, but most anxious for peace and quiet. In 
the midst of all these activities Charles found time to 
visit his estates at El Pardo and Aranjuez, but I do 
not know whether he began the present gardens there. 
At the close of his eventful life, he abdicated from his 
many thrones and withdrew to spend his last years in a 
little house near the monastery of Saint Juste. On his 
terrace were a fish-pond, and groves of oranges and lemons, 


RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 131 


besides rare plants brought from Vienna, the Nether- 
lands, and different parts of Spain. His study opened into 
a little garden where he tended, with his own hands, until 
his last illness, the plants that he especially loved. 

The religious zeal, that had increasingly shown itself 
in the life of Charles V, was also conspicuous in the 
career of Philip II. He has been so reviled by Protestant 
historians as the wicked Roman Catholic husband of 
“Bloody Mary” and the originator of the famous ar- 
mada intended for the destruction of the English fleet, 
that it is hard to appreciate that he had an affectionate 
side to his character and a passion for beauty. In the 
intimate letters written to his daughters from Portugal, 





PAVILION OF JUANA THE MAD, THE ALCAZAR 


132 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


he frequently expresses his love of nature, of gardens 
and of flowers, and is anxious to know about the pleasure- 
grounds on his various estates near Madrid. In referring 
to Aranjuez he says: “What I miss most of all, here, 
is the song of the nightingales, which I have not heard 


99 


this year.”’ He carefully noted the little gardens called 
allegreti in Portugal and had plans made of those that 
he liked best, regretting that he could not transport 
them bodily to Spain. On the property he inherited 
at the Alcazar in Seville, at Aranjuez, and at the Casa 
de Campo, near Madrid, he constantly improved the 
pleasure-grounds and made them more reminiscent of 
Italy. 

The architectural creation, however, that will always 
be identified with Philip II 1s the combination of palace, 
monastery, and pantheon at the Escorial called the 
Monasterio de San Lorenzo, in fulfilment of a vow made 
during the battle of Saint Quentin, although he did not 
win a victory there. He employed first Juan Bautista 
of ‘Toledo and then Juan de Herrera as his architects, 
and he himself carefully looked over the plans which 
were designed to represent the gridiron always asso- 
ciated with this particular martyr. It was in connection 
with this affair that Philip remarked, ‘“‘The chapel is 
the first room that the kings of Spain build in their 
houses.’ The Escorial, as it 1s simplest to name the 
Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial, lies on the 
bleak and rocky slopes of the Sierra Guadarrama, about 








Moreno 


PATIO DE LOS EVANGELISTAS, ESCORIAL 











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RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 135 


thirty miles from Madrid. This magnificent granite pile 
belongs to the Crown, and still includes a royal palace, 
though few of the more recent kings of Spain have cared 
to sleep above the bones of their ancestors, which rest in 
the vault below the high altar of the church. Philip’s 
own small bedroom looked into the Capilla Major 
(where his statue, with those of three of his wives, not 
including poor Mary of England, are erected), and here 
he spent his last hours on earth. Inside the monastery 
is the Patio de los Evangelistas, a cloister-garth laid out 
with box-edged beds forming an intricate pattern and 
unrelieved by the suspicion of a flower. In the centre 
are four tanks linked together by a small classic temple 
surmounted by a dome. This severe simplicity goes 
well with the unadorned architecture of Herrera. On 
the terrace below the southern and western windows of 
the palace lie granite terraces, also ornamented by ara- 
besques outlined in box. Formerly, however, the large 
gardens were laid out by a Jesuit named Cardona who 
also designed a terrace for Charles V at Saint Juste. A 
contemporary writer describes them in detail, and ap- 
parently they were rather Moorish in appearance, with 
twelve fountains and an abundance of bright colors. 
Inside the box-edging was a great variety of flowers — 
white, blue, yellow, red, and purple in many different 
shades — charmingly combined and giving the effect 
of a beautiful Oriental carpet. Not far away is a tank 
about one hundred and twenty feet square hewn from 


136 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





ARANJUEZ, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 
») 


solid granite. From an adjoining platform it is said 
that Madrid is sometimes visible. 

Almost as different as shadow is from sunshine is the 
contrast between the environment of the solemn edifice 
above a vast tomb at the Escorial and the smiling 
springtime villa at Aranjuez. Even in the depths of 
winter, with snow on the ground and a leaden sky 
above, Aranjuez is still gay and beautiful, as I can 
testify from recent experience. The magnificent English 
elms planted by Philip II, perhaps a gift from his Eng- 
lish wife, are supplemented by cypresses, cedars, and 


RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS — 137 


other trees that remain perpetually green. The outlines 
of the parterres are preserved by edgings of box, and 
many of the accents are formed by magnolias and other 
broad-leaved evergreens, so at every time of year the 
prospect is pleasing. ‘Then there is water running in two 
little rivers through the grounds and supplying many 
pools and fountains. The long straight walks shaded 
by tall trees are not dull, because at frequent intervals 
they pass through squares cr circles enclosed by hedges 
and furnished with fountains, simple statuary, and com- 
fortable seats. The scale of these enclosures is not too 
large to make them livable. 

From the palace a bridge, with posts ornamented by 
statues, leads across a tributary of the Tagus to the 
Fountain of Hercules and the far-reaching Jardin de 
la Isla, so called because it is surrounded by a bend of 
the river in conjunction with the minor stream. This 
island, with its wealth of fountains, statues, trees, and 
quantities of nightingales, has many subdivisions includ- 
ing the /s/eta and a particularly fine avenue of trees near 
- the Tagus, named the Salon de los Reyes Catolicos because 
it was a favorite resort of Ferdinand and Isabella. 
Among the pleasant resting-places that break the main 
walk, is the enclosure surrounding the Fountain of the 
Thorn. Senor Rusinol’s picture shows one of the curved 
corner seats there standing out against a lovely flowering 
tree. 

Another garden near the palace is the formal parterre, 


138 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


& 





Laurent 


JARDIN DE LA ISLA, ARANJUEZ 


with compartiments de broderies outlined by box-edging 
and numbers of palm-trees near a somewhat pompous 
fountain. On the south side of the building 1s the Jardin 
de las Estatuas of no great interest, and in the same 
direction, farther away, lies the Jardin de la Reina, a 
walled enclosure, also of no especial importance. 

An avenue of fine trees leads from the Calle de la Reina 
to the Casa del Labrador, a miniature palace built by 
Charles IV, in the cheerful fashion of the eighteenth cen- 
tury and unchanged by any modern alterations. The 
forecourt is interesting from an architectural standpoint. 
Hidden in the thickly wooded grounds are several foun- 
tains; the most ambitious one, called after Apollo, is orna- 


RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS © 139 





JARDIN DE LA ISLA, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 


mented by a semicircle of columns. Particularly interest- 
ing is the little temple on the edge of the lake with 
cypresses and an exquisite curtain of drooping foliage 
and flowers in the background, chosen by Rusinol as the 
subject for one of his pictures. He has also painted the 
rose-walk leading to a cypress arbor near the Florera or 
Jardin de los Pabellones belonging so essentially to the 
eighteenth century that I shall not describe it until a 
later chapter. | 

All the kings of Spain, since the beginning of the fif- 
teenth century, have had a hand in the making of dran- 
juez. Originally Ferdinand took the property away from 
Lorenzo Saurez de Figuera, master of the famous Order 


140 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


of Santiago, whose country-seat was there. It then 
became one of the summer residences of the Catholic 
Kings and their successors. Charles V placed a hunting- 
lodge here, and his son Philip added some more pre- 
tentious structures, began to lay out the grounds, and 
installed one of the first botanical gardens in Europe. 
By the time of Philip III, fifty thousand shade-trees 
flourished there, including many fine English elms, Indian 
chestnuts, and one hundred sycamores. Since a collection 
of animals was also provided for, camels, ostriches, and 
hundreds of peacocks were to be seen in different parts of 
the grounds. The woodland is still filled, at some seasons, 
with the song of many nightingales. Philip III laid out 
the Jardin de la Reina at the left of the Palace, and later 
it was enlarged by the wife of Philip V, who also made 
some improvements and turned over the supervision of 
the grounds to a Frenchman. 

It is, however, the spirit of Philip IV that pervades 
the atmosphere, although he merely completed a few 
of the parterres with the help of Italian architects and 
added some of the statuary. Solemn as he and his 
family look in their many marvellous portraits by 
Velasquez, they were devoted to plays given in the 
open air and to garden-parties. In the spring of 1622, 
when the court was in residence at Aranjuez, a series of 
festivities took place there to celebrate the King’s seven- 
teenth birthday. A temporary theatre had been erected 
in the Jardin de la Isla, where, one night, a play written 


RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 141 


by Count de Villa Mediana was being given in which 
the young Queen was to impersonate the Goddess of 
Beauty. The audience, with Philip and his brothers in 
the front row seated on chairs, and the ladies, even 
of the royal family, upon cushions on the floor, as was the 
custom of the Spanish Court, had applauded the pro- 
logue, and were waiting for the Queen to emerge from the 
green-room and play her part in the first act, when loud 
screams arose from behind the scene and almost instan- 
taneously the stage and the tent in which the Court was 
seated were devoured by flames. The King, fighting his 
way through the panic-stricken mob, rushed outside and 
sought in vain for the Queen. Finally, when he found 
her, the spiteful enemies of Count de Villa Mediana said 
that she had fallen, half-fainting, into Villa Mediana’s 
arms, and that he had purposely set the theatre on fire in 
order to become her savior. Four months later, Villa 
Mediana was assassinated. 

During the next forty years neither continuous mis- 
fortunes nor decreasing finances deterred Philip from 
his merrymaking. At his favorite Buen Retiro, now a 
public park, at El Pardo, and at Aranjuez he kept on 
giving an endless succession of masques and other open- 
diretetes. 

Near Madrid is the royal residence of &/l Pardo, 
another familiar resort of Philip IV. The chateau was 
originally built by Charles V and Philip II, who often 
went there, but the present large granite palace owes its 


142 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


existence to Philip III and his ruinous extravagance. 
The grounds were much improved by Philip IV, who 
employed an Italian painter as his landscape architect. 
Although seldom described, the terrace walls ornamented 
with statues and niches, the simple fountains and water 
stairway are very attractive. Velasquez painted a pic- 
ture of Philip, with his favorite minister Olivares by 
his side, hunting the boar at E/ Pardo. Lady Holland 
writes of its neglected condition when she went there 
in November, 1803, and adds, “‘We passed through the 
Bosque where at this season all Madrid flock daily to 
eat the acorns from the evergreen-oaks, called bellotas.”’ 

In this neighborhood are two smaller palaces with 
gardens — La Zarzuela and La Quinta. The terraces 
and various architectural features at the former place 
are especially interesting. It belonged to Philip IV’s 
brother, the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand, who used to 
give plays and open-air entertainments there. 

Almost in sight of the royal palace in Madrid is the 
Casa de Campo, now the property of the Prince of the 
Asturias, who is wisely trying to restore it along its 
original lines with the aid of some contemporary plans 
and descriptions. Philip Il, who was very fond of this 
estate, ornamented the corners of the parterre with stat- 
ues, and Philip IV often went there to pass a pleasant 
hour. This was the scene of a well-known incident in 
English history when Charles, Prince of Wales, had come 
to Madrid to woo Philip’s sister, the Infanta Maria. 


RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 143 


Howell describes what happened in a letter he wrote 
from Madrid at this time: 

“Not long since the Prince, understanding that the 
Infanta was used to go some mornings to the Casa de 
Campo, a summer-house the King hath on other side 
of the river, to gather May-dew, he did rise betimes 
and went thither taking your brother with him. They 
were let into the house and into the garden; but the 
Infanta was in the orchard, there being a high partition- 
wall between, and the door doubly bolted, the Prince 
got on top of the wall and sprung down a great height 
and so made toward her. But she spying him the first 
of all gave a shriek and ran back. The old Marquis that 
was then her guardian came towards the Prince and fell 
on his knees, conjuring his Highness to retire, in regard 
that he hazarded his head if he admitted any to her 
company. So the door was opened and he came out 
under that wall over which he had got in.” 

The Renaissance in some of its later and more magnifi- 
cent phases is to be seen in the park of La Granja, 
seventy miles north of Madrid. This pleasaunce is often 
depreciated as being merely a poor copy of Versailles, an 
unjust criticism because it is developed chiefly along indi- 
vidual lines and its natural setting is far more wild and 
beautiful. Instead of the sophisticated and rather monot- 
onous country dominated by the royal palace at Versailles 
and only made interesting by an immense expenditure of 
money and labor, the site of La Granja near San Ildefonso 


144 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


is a rocky hillside embedded in a forest, overlooking 
the picturesque medieval city of Segovia in one direction 
and, in another, facing the mountains of the Guadarrama 
range, one of whose loftiest peaks rises cone-shaped at 
the ends of several vistas in the gardens. Its height, 
four thousand feet above the sea, makes this estate par- 
ticularly cool in hot weather. It was formerly the favorite 
summer residence of the royal family. 

In 1719, Philip V, the first of the Bourbon Kings of 
Spain, tried to forget his homesickness for France by 
building a pink stucco and grayish marble palace here, 
and by laying out the extensive grounds to recall those 
that he had known in his native land. Fortunately the 
French landscape architects he employed adopted far 
less formal plans than those that had been executed for 
his grandfather Louis XIV by Le Notre at Marly and 
Versailles, and the general effect, if less awe-inspiring, 
gains in charm. Near the palace is a parterre of flowers, 
but elsewhere the planting consists almost entirely of 
trees and shrubs. The large pleasure-grounds at the 
back of the palace contain quantities of trees shading 
straight and rather narrow paths, which converge in 
round open spaces ornamented by late Baroque statuary 
and fountain-basins toned down by kindly time. The 
most important of the waterworks, the Cascada de la 
Cenador, centres on Philip’s private apartments at one 
end, instead of on the middle of the palace, and the other 
axes play no particularly logical part in the plan. At the 


VINVUD VI LV JNOLdIN JO NIVINOOG FHL 


oualonr 











RENAISSANCE PLEASURE-GROUNDS 147 


end of one of the vistas is a reservoir modestly named 
“The Ocean,” and of course there is a labyrinth without 
which no Spanish garden would be complete. 

The celebrated fountains play only upon rare occa- 
sions, but George Ticknor in 1818 describes a perform- 
ance given for his especial benefit: 

“It was a delicious evening, one worthy of the Bay 
of Naples, and the sun was fast setting behind the 
mountain, to the westward of us. The village was all 
assembled in the gardens to see the féte, and added not 
a little to the picturesque effect, by giving life and move- 
ment to the scene. The first exhibition was of sixteen 
fountains, in a line ascending the hill, and composed 
of several hundred jets d’eau, so arranged as to make 
one coup dil of singular beauty and variety. The 
setting sun fell upon the whole series, and each had its 
little rainbow dancing on the white spray it threw up, 
while the foliage of the trees amidst which it was seen, 
and which sometimes opened and sometimes closed the 
view, made it seem the work of enchantment. I thought 
of the gardens of Armida, and the celestial fountain, 
which Southey in his ““Kehama”’ has formed of the 
blended and conflicting elements, but for once the 
reality exceeded the efforts of imagination. I could not 
be weary with looking at it; but at last my conductor 
took me by the elbow, and I went to see the Fountain 
of Diana, which is imitated from Versailles, and the most 
poetical thought I have ever seen in this kind of orna- 


148 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


ment; but the imitation is finer than the original, the 
Baths of Diana, which is I suppose the most magnificent 
single fountain in the world;...but there was nothing 
so struck and delighted me as this first coup d’eil, com- 
pared with which all there is at Versailles 1s a mere 


awkward combined plaything.”’ 


CE Arle bE Revel 
SOME SMALLER GARDENS AND PATIOS 


i? 


“A patio!” wrote Edmondo de Amicis. ‘‘ How describe 
a patio? It is not a courtyard, it is not a garden, it is 
not a room: but it is something between all three. Sepa- 
rating the patio from the street there is a vestibule. 
Around the four walls of the patio stand columns that 
support on the height of the first floor a sort of closed 
gallery with large windows; above the gallery extends 
an awning that shades the courtyard. The vestibule 
is paved with marble; the doorway flanked by columns 
surmounted by carving is fended by a wrought-iron gate 
of no particular design. In the rear of the patio centring 
on the doorway rises a statue; in the middle a fountain; 
scattered about are benches, work-tables, beds of plants 
and vases of flowers. Entering another doorway there 
is another patio with walls covered with ivy and a circle 
of niches framing little statues, busts, and urns. Facing 
me is a third door: a patio with walls covered with 
mosaics, a palm in the middle and around it a mass of 
flowers. To a fourth door: still another patio, another 
vestibule; and after this a second patio in which there 
are other statues, other columns, other fountains. And 
all these courtyards and gardens are clean and shining 
so that you can pass your hand over the walls or the 


150 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


ground without soiling it a particle; all fresh, fragrant, 
and lighted just dimly enough to increase its beauty 
and mysteriousness.”’ 

It is easy to guess that this rhapsody is selected from 
a description of Cordova. Nowhere else can a stran- 
ger enter so easily into the hearts of people’s homes. 
Through the doorway of almost every house on the old 
and narrow streets I had glimpses of alluring little in- 
terlors gay with marble floors, fountains, and flowers, 
innumerable variations of the same theme. Frequently 
tertulias are given here, and no more congenial spot is 
imaginable for listening to music and conversation on a 
summer’s evening. Where there are several patios those 
at the rear of the house are usually larger and contain 
more flower-beds than the one near the entrance, where 
sometimes all the plants are in flower-pots, and if there 
are trees or shrubs they come up through holes in the 
pavement. These potted plants form an important part 
of the decorative scheme, not only in courtyards and 
gardens, but on parapets, walls, the edges of steps 
and fountains, as well as beneath the windows of the 
house. The pots. themselves are well designed and made 
in a variety of colors. Sometimes the staircase connect- 
ing the upper and lower story is concealed, but where 
it is in the open, as in many of the Majorcan courts, 
the effect is good. The pavement is of stone flagging, 
tiles, or pebbles laid in interesting patterns. Much at- 
tention is given to all these details, and each patio is 


SOME SMALLER GARDENS AND PATIOS 1e1 


a distinct expression of the owner’s individuality. There 
is usually some form of colonnade or arcade around the 
court, and either it supports the second story or there 
is superimposed another colonnade serving as an airy 
logeia. 

The only garden of any size that I was advised to 
look up in Cordova is at the Casa de los Rejas de Don 
Gomes, belonging to the distinguished Viano family, who 
are kind enough to allow it to be visited when they are 
not in residence. There are a succession of patios large 
and small, sunny and shady, ending in a good-sized 
garden with the house on one side and on the other 
three high whitewashed walls. One of these courts was 
planted entirely with box; another had a coronet made 
of cypresses to shade and accent the centre. The white 
wall of the house itself was very decorative with the 
trimmings painted an intense cobalt blue, while fra- 
grant heliotrope covered with flowers and trained like 
a vine climbed up to the eaves. 

The last of these patios is plenty large enough to be 
called a garden, though its massive walls and the in- 
timate character of the treatment give it the appear- 
ance of an outdoor living-room. This enclosure is divided 
by the two main paths into quarters, each of which is 
similarly subdivided by narrower paths into four large 
beds. There is a fountain in the centre, with benches 
around it. Oleanders accent the middle of two of the 
subdivisions; in the other two they have been omitted 


152 “SPANISH- AND PORTUGUESE GARDEN Sa 


with typical disregard for perfect symmetry. Color is 
not lacking, for [ found many flowers brightening the 
parterre even in February. Standard roses as well as ole- 
anders diversify the planting, and the ground is covered 
with violets, stock, and a variety of other flowers in full 
bloom. Oranges and lemons are trained to grow almost 
flat on the wall. On the side above a neighboring street 
the wall is pierced by a series of wide openings like French 
windows which can be barred by substantial wooden 
shutters. These, however, were unclosed when I visited 
the garden, and the effect of the openings, which let in air 
and sunlight besides increasing the apparent size of the 
garden, was charming. At the end of one of the main 
paths a glorveta, or arbor, of cypresses furnished a place to 
sit under cover. The style of this garden is said to be 
Moorish, but except for the open runnels for water it did 
not impress me as belonging to any especial period. The 
plan and the architectural features are not unusual and 
seem simply the natural and unaffected expression of a 
fondness for living among flowers. 

While in Cordova, the Patio de los Naranjos, the old 
Court of the Ablutions connected with the Great Mosque 
now turned into the cathedral, must not be forgotten. 
I have described it in a previous chapter. In the Casa 
Provincial de Expositos there is another garden said to 
be interesting. Among the larger patios that of the 
hospicio or poor-house, a former convent, has a good 
fountain and florid decoration in the baroque style, 


SOME SMALLER GARDENS AND PATIOS | 153 


and the Jesuit convent contains still more exuberant 
ornamentation in this, now so popular, fashion. Outside 
the city it might be worth while to visit the Quinta 
de Arrizafa, which has some interesting features and 
can be combined with a visit to the Ermitas de Valpa- 
raiso, though only men are allowed to enter this mon- 
astery. Each of the hermits has his own little house and 
garden. 

Moorish influence, however, always appears most 
distinctly in those parts of Andalusia where the Moors 
stayed longest, though its manifestations are difficult to 
define and may be simply a question of scale or pro- 
portion. Moorish workmen were employed long after 
the Reconquest, and their Christian masters left them 
free to carry out their ideas along traditional lines with 
very little interference. Statuary was seldom introduced 
and always given a subordinate position; the irrigation 
system had a decorative value, and gaily colored tiles 
were given much prominence. At Granada there are 
some sixteenth-century patios built by Moorish car- 
penters showing their use of woodwork in ways not 
seen elsewhere. At the top of the columns are plinths 
of wood carved in shapes that suggest Indian derivation 
like those of the Manueline style in Portugal, but this 
is only my own idea, and IJ have not seen such a resem- 
blance pointed out by experts. These patios, however, 
are not planted with trees or flowers and are more curious 
than interesting from the standpoint of a garden-maker. 


154 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





PATIO, LOS VENERABILES, SEVILLE 


Unless expecting to make a long stay at Granada, one 
would find it more profitable to devote the time to the 
courts of the 4/hambra and the terraces of the Generalife. 

In the sixteenth century some beautiful patios were 
built and enriched with exquisite carving that would defy 
imitation at the present date. Good examples of this 
style are to be found in the gorgeous Infantado Palace 
at Guadalajara finished in 1570, where fantastic elabora- 
tion seems to have reached its culmination and stone- 
work is carved to look like lace; at Salamanca, in the 
Casa de las Conchas, the Colegio de los Irlandeses, and the 
Escueles Minores; at Valladolid, in the Colegio de San 
Gregorio, and at Burgos, where the Casa de Miranda, 


SOME SMALLER GARDENS AND PATIOS tss 


though tumbling to pieces, still retains much of its unique 
beauty even in its present miserable and deserted condi- 
tion. [he palace of Juan de Orellana in the Province of 
Caceres is simpler and more suggestive of the Italian Re- 
naissance, and, though less well known, seems to me espe- 
cially charming. There is a good photograph of it show- 
ing the finely proportioned balustrades ornamented by 
chubby cupids supporting escutcheons, in Mr. Winsor 
Soule’s “Spanish Farm-Houses and Minor Public Build- 
ings.”’ In this book, in ‘‘ Picturesque Spain,” by Kurt 
Hielscher, and in “‘Spanish Details,” by W. L. Bottom- 
ley, several good patios are illustrated, demonstrating 
phases of extreme simplicity as well as those of great 
elaboration. Few of these, however, contain planting of 
any description. 

The largest number of patios where flowers play an 
important part are, it seems to me, in Seville. Many 
are open to the public; to arrange to visit others it 
may be necessary to obtain permission from the owners, 
who are remarkably courteous to strangers. Some of the 
courtyards of the University, built by Herrera, are worth 
seeing as good examples of rather formal treatment. 
Another pleasant enclosure, readily accessible, is at Los 
Venerabiles, an asylum for aged priests. The circular 
sunken fountain with steps leading down to the bottom 
is the most interesting feature, but the casual way the 
trees crop irregularly through the pavement ts character- 
istic of Andalusian spontaneity and might often be imi- 


156 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





PATIO, MUSEO PROVINCIAL, PAINTED BY A. GROSSO , 


tated to advantage in more northern gardens. The larg- 
est patio of the Museo Provincial, formerly the Convento 
de la Merced (which contains an interesting collection of 
old azulejos, or polychrome tiles, not to be overlooked), is 
charmingly laid out with sunken flower-beds, trees, and 
shrubs that soften the effect of the walls and columns. 
Don Alfredo Grosso has chosen it as the subject of one of 
his most charming pictures. | 

Among the gardens nearest the Alcazar are several 
delightful enclosures beginning with the Patio de Maria 


SOME SMALLER GARDENS AND PATIOS 157 


de Padilla. One of these, not filled with green like the 
rest, struck me as particularly pleasing. Neither the 
steps built to afford a sure footing for flower-pots, de- 
scending from the house, nor the doorway leading to 
the outer pleasure-grounds, line up with any particular 
point, although the pretty little fountain centres on the 
path running from end to end of this series of patios. The 
differences of level, the soft-colored pavement, and above 
all, the apertures through the wall, are details that add 
much to the mellow charm of this very simple open-air 
living-room. Nothing brings out more sharply the con- 
trast between light and shade than a window through a 
wall, framing a verdant living picture. 





Linares 


A PATIO, GARDENS OF THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE 


158 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Several of the private palaces have gardens, and all 
enclose one or more patios. One of unusual magnificence 
is the Casa de Pilatos owned by the Duque de Medi- 
naceli. It was begun in the sixteenth century by one 





A FOUNTAIN IN A PATIO, THE ALCAZAR 


of the de Ribera family, with the aid of a Moorish 
architect or workmen, and gradually finished by his 
descendants. One of these was the Marqués de Tarifa, 
who was so enterprising as to go to Jerusalem and was 
reported to have chosen the house of Pilate as the model 
for his new palace, which thus derived its name. A later 
owner, the Duque de Alcala, received many distin- 


SOME SMALLER GARDENS AND PATIOS 1ts9 


guished friends there, including the elder of the famous 
architects named Herrera and the immortal Cervantes. 
It has a large courtyard with an elaborate arcade and a 
well-designed pebble pavement centring on a handsome 





PATIO, SEMINARIO, SANTIAGO 


fountain. The dadoes around the walls of the court and 
on the staircase exhibit a varied collection of old poly- 
chrome tiles. Beyond this patio is a large garden, on two 
sides adjoining the house, and on the other two enclosed 
by walls, ornamented by bas-reliefs brought chiefly from 


160 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Italy. Then there are fountains and statuary among the 
trees and flowers. 

Connected with other apartments in this palace and 
screened from outside by white walls twenty feet high 1s a 
second enclosure. It has been charmingly remodelled by 
its present owner, and each subdivision illustrates typical 
methods of applying falence. An adjacent window is cov- 
ered by an exceptionally good wrought-iron grille. Here 
we see a Sevillan back yard at its best. 

Delightful are the gardens of the Palacio de las Duenas 
belonging to the Duque de Alba; they are easily accessible 
and well worth visiting. An old writer speaks of seeing 
there eleven patios, nine fountains, and a hundred mar- 
ble columns. In the Spanish sense a patio may be an en- 
closure outside as well as inside the house, and on this 
basis nine or ten of them can be counted now. The oldest 
part of the palace was built in the Moorish style by the 
Pinedas family, and was sold in 1484 when one of them 
was held a prisoner at Granada and money had to be 
raised to ransom him from the Moors. The general effect 
of the larger of the courtyards inside the palace is decid- 
edly Moorish, although the parapet above the colonnade 
is Gothic and some of the other details show the influence 
of the Renaissance. It is nobly proportioned and shaded 
by tall palms planted in flower-beds which centre around 
a fountain with a tiled coping and a stone basin standing 
on a pedestal. Each of the outside enclosures is laid out 
differently and has certain features that are very at- 


SOME SMALLER GARDENS AND PATIOS 161 


tractive and could be reproduced easily. Near the build- 
ing, for instance, is a little terrace not more than eight or 
ten feet square shaded by a pergola and furnished with a 
stone table and benches — a perfect place for afternoon 
tea. Beyond is one of the larger gardens. In its centre are 
four benches and a fountain, all covered with tiles of 
pleasing color. The planting is good, and there is an un- 
usual number of flowers. Nothing could be simpler than 
the oblong plan, divided by paths into quarters, while the 
ornamentation is not too pronounced to unfit it for con- 
nection with a modified style of Spanish architecture out- 
side the Iberian Peninsula. The remaining sections of the 
grounds are also in excellent taste. 
In several monasteries are courtyards, nominally clois- 
ters, that have a distinctly secular appearance. Among 


pe oe Sen en ee me me emery 
oo es Bo Rien See ce n = aR en A ee moe bs 





PATIO AT THE CARTUJA, VALLDEMOSA 


162, SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


these is the eighteenth-century patio near the apartment 
of George Sand in the Cartuja at Valldemosa. This de- 
lightful little quadrangle contains four large square beds 
and a central fountain. The beds are edged with box and 
planted with orange-trees at the corners and a cypress in 
the middle. All the angles have been replaced by curves 
giving a suave effect that is very pleasing. 


CHAPTER VII 
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 


WHEN Elizabeth, Lady Holland, visited Spain early in 
the nineteenth century she was delighted to find that 
many old-fashioned gardens were still maintained there. 
In England at that time “Capability”? Brown and his 
disciples were preaching a new gospel based on the theory 
that Nature abhorred a straight line. This involved the 
abolition of all visible boundaries outside a house in 
the country. Old mulberry-colored walls, lichen-covered 
stone-work, and box-edged parterres were ruthlessly 
wiped out to make way for rural simplicity. In France 
the Romanticists advocated similar measures, but were 
perhaps less successful in getting them carried out there. 
So it is surprising that Lady Holland, after describing 
her pleasure in seeing the grounds of the Alcazar in 
Seville, should have been sufficiently enlightened to add 
the following reflections, ‘‘The English taste for sim- 
plicity and nature, which places a house in the midst of 
a grazing field where the sheep din ba ba all day long, 
has by offending me so much perhaps driven me into 
the opposite extreme, and made me prefer to the nature 
of a grass field and a round clump the buz/t gardens of 
two centuries back.” 


164 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Formerly writers describing the beauties of Spain 
dwelt upon the marvels of the 4/hambra and the mag- 
nificence of the great Gothic cathedrals and churches, 
but usually dismissed the Renaissance structures with a 
few words of faint praise or adverse criticism and avoided 
all mention of domestic architecture with the possible 
exception of a few palatial residences. The pleasant sub- 
stantial country-seats and the smaller town-houses cor- 
responding to the Georgian mansions in England have 
received almost no attention; and yet it is these comfort- 
able dwellings of moderate size, and the gardens going 
with them, showing no evidence of high-flown aspira- 
tions, that most nearly meet our modern requirements. 
Dignity is combined with simplicity and cheery spon- 
taneity. 

On a hillside, three or four miles north of Barcelona 
at Horta, is an estate known as E/ Laberinto where there 
are some beautiful unaltered eighteenth-century pleasure- | 
grounds. Permission to visit this property was kindly 
given me by the Marquesa de Alfarras, whose husband’s 
ancestors developed it over a hundred and twenty-five 
years ago. An avenue leads from the high-road to the 
stucco house painted in imitation of pinkish gray marble 
and large enough to be called a palace. The coloring 
tones in well with the purple shadows on the high hills 
in the background. 

At one end of the house is a small sunken formal 
garden, laid out with box-edged flower-beds accented by 


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EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 167 


evergreens clipped into various simple shapes. In the 
centre is an unpretentious fountain. The double stair- 
case, ornamented by busts and urns leading up to a 
terrace in front of the house is the only conspicuous 
architectural feature. 

Adjoining this parterre is a larger walled enclosure 
that seems to be a combination of nursery and picking- 
garden. It gives a good idea of the flowers that bloom 
so freely in this locality in winter-time. A number of 
camellias were covered with blossoms when I was there 
early in February. 

At the opposite end of the house a shady path winds 
down to a valley where there is a romantic-looking grove. 
Although the trees are spaced irregularly, they are inter- 
sected by narrow flagged walks that divide the ground 
into squares. Wild flowers grow on the bank above, 
and altogether it is a delightful spot that might have 
been especially intended to make nightingales feel at 
home. 

The mass of the pleasure-grounds cover the hillside 
rising steeply behind the house and stretch far away, 
without definite boundaries, until they become merged 
in woodlands that are allowed to grow wild. Before de- 
scribing them in more detail, I should like to try to give 
some idea of what chiefly constitutes the striking beauty 
of these grounds. Perhaps their attraction lies mostly in 
the long vistas framed by high walls of clipped evergreens 
backed by thickets of tall freely growing trees, in the 


168 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





ENTRANCE TO GARDENS, EL LABERINTO 


many pools of clear water and in the lovely prospects over 
land and sea; but it is all veiled by a strange atmosphere 
of mystery and solitude. There are no flowers except 
those that have sprung up of their own accord under the 
trees. [The contour of the hillside has not been destroyed 
by breaking it up into conspicuous terraces, and although 
here are levelled spaces and architectural features they 
are concealed or fitted harmoniously into a scheme that 
has left the native loveliness of the wooded slope un- 
touched. And yet obviously this is not a wilderness, for 
straight paths on an easy incline lead to the chief vantage- 
points and there are comfortable seats and shelters pro- 
vided for visitors, giving the impression of a carefully 
considered plan. | 





A POOL AT EL LABERINTO 


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FIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 171 








STAIRWAY, EL LABBRINTO 


At the entrance, which is not on the centre of the 
house, is a semicircle formed by a tall hedge strengthened 
by stone posts, with paths running in different directions. 
It is pleasant to stroll first up the green alley ascending | 
towards a small temple. On the way there incidental 
benches or pieces of sculpture against a background of 
green add interesting notes without pretending to be of 
any especial importance. 

Just below the terrace, supporting at one end the 
temple previously mentioned and a similar one at the 
opposite end, lies a square of level ground covered by 
a real labyrinth, with cypress hedges so high that it 1s 
impossible for a person to see over their tops. Without 
help a stranger finds it very difficult to wend his way 


172 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





THE PAVILION AND RESERVOIR, EL LABERINTO 


to the centre of the maze, where there is a statue in a 
pool surrounded by evergreen walls and archways. In 
many Spanish gardens, as well as labyrinths, it is the 
custom to conceal the centre of the garden and to en- 
shrine there a fountain or a choice piece of sculpture. 
From the terrace paved with squares of pinkish terra- 
cotta and ornamented by the temples and niches framing 
bas-reliefs, steps ascend to a still higher level. Here 
stands a substantial summer-house of pink stucco in- 
teresting from an architectural standpoint and very in- 
viting-looking to a visitor, but unfortunately closed to me. 
This pavilion is reflected in the smooth surface of a reser- 
voir sixty-six feet square that is built behind it directly 
under its windows. Still higher up is a grotto where a 


PIG TEEN TH-CENDURY DEVELOPMENTS: 173 


stream of water flows from the side of a cliff to fill the 
reservoir and feed the various pools and fountains below. 

It would be wearisome to have all the other features 
described in detail. On the way down there is a platform 
designed to afford a pleasant place to see an especially 
lovely view of the Mediterranean. Below it is a little 
room with a lifelike image of a man in the costume of 
a hunter seated there, which gave me a start when I 
came upon it unexpectedly. And there are many other 
interesting features which must be seen to be appreci- 
ated. On the pavilion is a Latin motto that well sums 
up the whole scheme — Artis natureque concordia pul- 
chra — a lovely harmony of art and nature. 





TERRACE, EL LABERINTO 


174. SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





THE GARDEN AT CASA GOMEZ 


Between Horta and Barcelona on an estate known as 
the Casa Gomez, there is an old garden behind the house 
with a box-edged parterre laid out in a very good design. 
On the terrace above is a group of seats with Baroque 
ornamentation. A little farther away is a circle of ex- 
tremely aged cypresses enclosing some seats. Another 
perhaps earlier garden in Horta is Torre Glories. The 
large parterre is diversified by dense hedges and tall 
clipped evergreens. There is a terrace above with an 
archway, columns, and other accessories. Probably some 
of the attractive country-seats in the neighboring sub- 
urbs still retain their gardens, but many, like the particu- 
larly charming one shown in the frontispiece of this book, 
are no longer in existence. 


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PIGHDEENTH-CENTORY DEVELOPMENTS 177 


One of the finest residences in Madrid is the Palacio 
de Liria inherited among many other estates by the 
Duque de Alba. It was built by one of his ancestors who 
had English blood and affiliations, which may be the 
reason that it is not unlike a Georgian mansion in Eng- 
land. Between the palace and the street the grounds are 
laid out like a small park, but back of the building are 
a series of formal gardens that are sufficiently dignified 
and spacious to be in keeping with the palace and are 
interesting in design. Under the windows is a large 
parterre de broderie traced in dwarf boxwood, surrounded 
on three sides by very high sloping banks covered with 
masses of purple iris. On the ground above ts a pergola 
opposite the building, and on one side a pleasaunce laid 
out with flower-beds ornamented by statuary and en- 
closed by evergreen hedges. Some improvements have 
been made by Monsieur Forestier, but they have not 
been out of keeping with the rest. Few houses in the 
midst of a large city have such a pleasant environment. 

Although the climate of Madrid ts distinctly unfavor- 
able to horticulture and it is a proverbial saying that 
Castile furnishes no flowers, there are a number of in- 
teresting old gardens within easy range of the capital. 
Don Javier de Winthuysen has described those of Abadia, 
Piedrafita, Cadalso, and Los Vidrios. Another very near 
Madrid is at Moncloa, in the valley of the Manzanares, 
on terraces below a charming little palace in the style 
of the French Empire. Lady Holland speaks of some 


178 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





RESERVOIR, QUINTA CAMEROSA, OCA 


gardens belonging to her friend the Duchess of Osuna 
at a villa called the Alameda, but I do not know whether 
their original character has been preserved. Several 
others are worth exploring. 

Northeast of Madrid in the Province of Guadalajara 
at Brihuega, a pleasaunce was connected with an old 
royal woollen factory. Fortunately it has fallen into the 
hands of the Cabanas family who keep the arcades of 
cypress well clipped and fill the beds with flowers. 

In the Province of Oviedo there lived formerly a num- 
ber of architects with very original ideas. One of these in- 
dependent souls must have inspired the delightful pleas- 
ure-grounds at Oca. The curious stone boat with a statue 
at its prow in the sheet of water may have been inspired 
by reminiscences of Italy, but the place has a romantic 


EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 179 


atmosphere distinctly its own. Possibly the gardens may 
have been laid out earlier than the eighteenth century. 
In fact I know very little about them except that they 
contain many interesting architectural details and taken 
as a whole are altogether charming. 

Lovers of the eighteenth century must not fail to visit 
the //orera, or “ garden with pavilions,” in a remote part 
of the extensive Jardin del Principe at Aranjuez, stretch- 
ing from the palace to the grounds of the Casa del Labra- 
dor. An avenue, marked by dignified gate-posts at the 
entrance, near the formal parterre beside the palace, not 
far from the beginning of the Calle della Reina, leads to 
the Florera. Halfway down the stately avenue is a large 
circle of trees, with benches to rest upon and handsome 
carved stone vases on very high pedestals. The cheerful 

little garden thus approached was laid out by Charles IV 
and an Irish architect in what is pronounced the English | 
style, but there is an insouciance and spontaneity about 
it that is more suggestive of Irish extraction. Four little 
garden-houses with lattice-work over the walls and 
copper roofs stand crossways at the corners, while on 
the centre at the back is a much larger pavilion. Arches 
covered with roses run all around the outside border. 
Standard roses and large boxwood shrubs form the chief 
accents in the flower-beds which cluster around a central 
fountain. Back of the pavilion is a large stone platform 
with a view of the Tagus and of various quaint little con- 
structions on its winding banks, some perhaps intended 


180 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


for fishing-lodges. This garden has an especially gay and 
homelike atmosphere and looks as though it might have 
been planted to please little princes and princesses who 
wished to have some flower-beds small enough to culti- 
vate enjoyably with their own hands. 

Charles IV seems to have had a fondnessweasmcre 
Marie Antoinette at about the same time, for small 
houses and gardens. As Prince of the Asturias he built 
the little Casita del Principe, sometimes called the Casita 
de Abajo, below the monastery at the Escorial. The 
grounds as well as the house were probably designed by 
Juan de Villanueva. “Later Charles erected@angtier of 
these so-called cottages north of El Pardo. Above the 
Escorial is the Casa del Infante or Casa de Arriba, built 
for the Infante Gabriel, which includes an especially 
pretty garden. 

A medieval Arabian writer, in describing the beauties 
of Cordova, mentioned that the inhabitants used to walk 
in the public gardens on the banks of the Guadalquivir 
to enjoy the fresh air. This custom has been prevalent 
ever since then, and almost every town has its public 
promenade or alameda often charmingly laid out as a 
formal garden. When Lord and Lady Holland were 
travelling through Spain early in the nineteenth century, 
they, too, followed this fashion in all the principal towns 
that they visited there. At Xerez she wiitesmmnenes 
journal: ‘‘After dinner went to the Alameda. Women 
very pretty; more men in capas and monteras than at 





JARDINES DE LAS DELICIAS, SEVILLE 





» PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 


FORTE 


JARDIN DE MON 


EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS 183 


Cadiz. The promenade always ends at Angelus, which 
is sung at sunset; it always produces a pretty effect when 
in full walk, the sudden pause and a momentary de- 
votion. Time is given for an Ave and a Pater.” At 
Seville a romantic alameda near the Parque de Maria 
Lutsa, called the Paseo de las Delicias, remains unaltered 
since the time when Lady Holland and her friends strolled 
up and down there to see the beau monde. Near by, are 
the Jardines de las Delicias. In a circle here, at the inter- 
section of two of the shady alleys, the fountains, statuary, 
and benches of gray stone, with all the sharp corners 
softened by age, overshadowed by magnificent trees, 
create an ideal atmosphere for leisurely recreation. 

The plan of the d/ameda at Ronda ts especially good 
with its parterres ornamented by flowers and fountains. 
_ Itis on a height commanding a fine view of the old town, 
the mountains, and the plain far below. At Valencia, 
_ where the climate ts especially favorable to horticulture, 
a public pleasure-ground called the Glorieta has been 
noted for over a century. Here also is a beautiful Mon- 
forte garden dubbed by Rusinol the Jardin Neo-Classico, 
where he has found material for many of his pictures. 


Cr Asp Al Ee Ragy LUI 
MODERN GARDENS 


THE past is so omnipresent that it is difficult for outsiders 
to believe that anything new and beautiful is being de- 
signed in Spain to-day. There are, however, flourishing 
groups of artists and architects in different parts of the 
country who are creating not only pictures and statuary, 
but houses and gardens full of beauty and individuality. 
Any one who wishes to see this individuality carried to 
fantastic extremes should visit the Parque Guéll, where 
the architect’s imagination has been allowed to run riot 
throughout the grounds and the result is as weird as the 
wildest of dreams. 

A beautiful garden laid out along traditional lines 
and yet very original in design has been recently con- 
structed by the Conde de Guell at Pedralbes, a country 
town outside Barcelona beyond Sarria. The many green 
hedges enclosing the whole plot, marking the subdivi- 
sions and forming niches to enshrine the statuary, make 
the general effect of the planting particularly attractive 
in winter. Inside the house is a wonderful collection of 
the painted wooden statuary brought to such perfection 
by Montanes and Herrera in the sixteenth century. 

It would be impossible to begin to describe all the 
delightful gardens near Barcelona, as it includes more 


MODERN GARDENS 185 


extensive suburbs than any other city in Spain, and al- 
most every house has a fountain, and a pretty parterre 
of flowers, often showing taste and originality in its 
arrangement. Numbers of good examples are at Sarria. 
Monsieur J. C. N. Forestier, the distinguished French 





A GLORIETA, PAINTED BY S. RUSINOL 


landscape architect, is responsible for the public pleasure- 
grounds at Miramar, on Montyuich, a high hill affording 
a wonderful panorama of part of the surrounding country 
and of the sea, with the Island of Majorca sometimes 
visible on the horizon. He has also laid out some smaller 
gardens including a parterre beneath a majestic date-palm 
at the pleasant Quinta Eugenza, in the suburb of Montaner. 


186 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Every one who has been to Toledo will remember the 
charming little Casa del Greco on the outskirts of the 
Jewish quarter, overlooking the Tagus. In the fourteenth 
century this was the spacious home of Samuel Levi, a 
rich Jew who was for many years on friendly terms with 
Pedro the Cruel, until he suddenly incurred his enmity 
and was put to death for refusing to give up secret 
hoards of gold and silver, probably hidden in the vaults 
still visible under his dwelling at the lower entrance. 
Many years later a mysterious Marqués de Villena lived 
here and was supposed to practice alchemy and sorcery 





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MODERN GARDENS 189 


in the subterranean vaults. The house gradually tum- 
bled to pieces, but towards the end of the sixteenth 
century the remaining portion was occupied by Do- 
minico [heotocopulo, the distinguished Greek painter, 





GARDEN, CASA DEL GRECO, TOLEDO 


better known as El Greco, and he died there in 1614. 
His paintings depicted the spiritual characteristics of 
Spaniards as Velasquez did their outward appearance 
and Goya their manners and customs. In the church of 
Santo Tomé, close by his house, is El] Greco’s master- 
piece, the Burial of the Count of Orgaz. 

_ Within recent years, when the building was threatened 


190 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


with complete destruction, the Marqués de la Vega 
Inclan bought it and successfully restored it to look as 
much as possible as it did in the time when El] Greco 
lived there. The patio suggests the Casa Chapaz and 
other houses built by Moorish workmen in Granada 
after the Christians “had~ gained control theresa. 
roughly hewn wooden beams supporting the gallery and 
its wooden balustrade give a pleasant effect that could 
be readily adapted to the requirements of a house in 
America:, Phe main garden is on the uppers temace: 
Small and intimate, it is furnished in a way that makes 
it very homelike. At one side is a covered balcony raised 
four or five feet above the level of the ground, which 1s 
a protected place to survey the garden and the barren 
hills in the background. The fountain-basins have brick 
copings and the benches are made of similar material. 

On the hills seen in the distance from E] Greco’s 
garden are two or three guintas with small but attractive 
terraces furnished with benches, fountains, pergolas, and 
quantities of flowers. I was surprised to find them still 
pretty and with a good deal of bloom, in the worst part 
of the winter with the snow barely off the ground. Just 
visible on the horizon is an old castle which has been 
magnificently restored by its present owners. They are 
also transforming into extensive pleasure-grounds the 
barren hilltop that it dominates. 

Clinging to the edge of the wild and rocky gorge at 
Ronda, with the river tumbling in cascades far below, 1s © 


MODERN GARDENS I9I 


a charming modern garden. It takes its name, the garden 
of the Casa del Rey Moro, from the fact that it occupies 
the site of an old Moorish palace of which scarcely a 
trace remains. [The present owner is the Duquesa de 
Parcent, and she employed Monsieur Forestier to lay out 
the narrow piece of ground between the Calle Marqués de 
Paradas and the ravine. It is divided into three terraces 
with a fourth, very small, placed on a ledge of the cliff 
below. On the topmost terrace are some benches, and a 
fountain-basin is sunk in the brick-and-tile pavement 
from which the water is carried through open channels 
to the lowest level, where there is a pool against the wall 
between a double stairway. There is also on this level 
a simple but very attractive well-head with an unusual 
arch above it. Pergolas attached to one of the outer 
walls are constructed of ancient white marble columns 
supporting wooden trellis-work boldly painted black. 
The beds are edged with box and the two largest ones 
are chiefly devoted to roses. Cypresses furnish a dark 
note and oranges and mimosa furnish spots of color. In 
the background are various kinds of pittosporum with 
their beautiful glossy foliage. 

The terraced gardens of Don José Rodriguez Acosta 
at Granada are also on the edge of a cliff and are held 
in place by massive retaining walls. As the gardens are 
intended to serve partly for an outdoor museum contain- 
ing specimens of classic Greek and Roman sculpture, the 
architectural setting is rather more Italian than Spanish. 


192 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


The very high walls, however, are unlike any I have seen 
in Italy. Through their wide-arched openings are beau- 
tiful views of the mountains and of the wide-spreading 
vega. No more perfect setting could be imagined for 
marble statuary than this enclosure with feathery cy- 
presses masking the wall, and at one end a semicircular 
colonnade, all reflected in the mirror-like surface of the 
large pool sunk in the stone pavement. 

Seville is almost, if not quite, as progressive as Bar- 
celona and an equally good place to study recent artistic 
developments. Near the bank of the Guadalquivir and 
the Paseo de las Delicias is a park planted long ago and 
given to the city by the Duke de Montpensier and now 
named the Parque de Maria Luisa. In the centre a 
small lake with curved banks, and midway a little island 
harboring a pseudo-Oriental pavilion, where a royal en- 
gagement once took place, remain untouched, partly on 
account of their associations. The rest of the grounds, 
however, have been much altered according to plans 
designed by Monsieur Forestier, but he has been careful 
to preserve as many as possible of the fine old trees. A 
large section has been set aside for the prospective His- 
panic-American Exposition and there are several gar- 
dens in an adaptation of the Moorish style that with 
many variations has become typical of modern Seville. 
There are numerous statues, beside tanks, fountains, 
and benches more or less covered with polychrome tiles. 
Many of them come from the neighboring factories at 


MODERN GARDENS 193 


Triana, and they will be improved when their newness 
wears off and their coloring becomes less gaudy. The 
form of the architectural features 1s often better than 
their coloring, as seen, for example, in the star-shaped 
fountain-basins, sunk below tiled pavements, and some 
of the simpler benches. In places the planting has also a 
Moorish character. The vistas formed by double arcades 
of cypresses or rows of palms, the pools covered with 
water-lilies, the groves laden with oranges and lemons, 
not to mention the quantities of fragrant flowers and 
the masses of roses and camellias, all are suggestive of 
the Orient. | 

The Murillo Gardens, beginning outside the grounds 





Linares 


PARQUE DE MARIA LUISA, SEVILLE 


194 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


of the Alcazar and continuing as far as the cavalry bar- 
racks on the Paseo de Catalina, were laid out by Don Juan 
Talavera, who has translated the Moorish style into 
modern terms in many different forms. Sometimes a 
fountain and a group of benches are faced with tiles that 
stand out too vividly, but others are more soberly con- 
structed of brick. There are pergolas covered with roses, 
alleys lined with cypresses, and beds filled with flowers 
or shaded by luxuriant palms that are very attractive. 
Numerous plants here, as in all Spanish gardens, are 
grown in pots both large and small, glazed in different 
colors or plain terra-cotta. 

Modern Spanish gardens are essentially idiomatic. 
They are almost invariably in harmony with local con- 
ditions and expressive of the owner’s individual pre- 
ferences, and this gives them the charm of a free and 
complete gesture, unlike the timid, halting, self-conscious 
impression produced by any form of art that is merely 
an attempt to copy literally past achievements. Over- 
exuberance may seem occasionally to be the result of 
this spontaneity and fearlessness, but this is a far less 
unhealthy symptom than the tendency prevalent in some 
other countries to seek inspiration only in the past and 
to regard everything new with suspicion. The Spanish 
enjoy experimenting with fresh ideas and are never 
hampered by their respect for tradition. 





Linares 


MURILLO GARDENS, SEVILLE 





Slabs died. IDS 
THE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 


BEFORE going to Portugal, the little republic west of 
Spain seemed very remote and was chiefly associated in 
my mind with earthquakes and revolution. It seemed to 
be still, as Lord Byron called it in “‘Childe Harold” early 
in the nineteenth century, a ‘‘purple land where law 
secures not life.” But during my visit, no evidence of 
political excitement was apparent there, while its roman- 
tic history, characteristic architecture, and exquisitely 
beautiful scenery were a revelation. The Moorish occu- 
pation, lasting for centuries, and intercourse with distant 
India, Brazil, and Morocco, once forming part of the 
Portuguese Empire, have left their traces, without exer- 
cising a too obvious influence. Fortunately, little coun- 
tries, like small people, often make up in charm and indi- 
viduality for what they lack in size. 

Portugal primarily impressed me by its wealth of color. 
The vegetation, which is the most luxuriant and varied 
in Europe, is dominated by a large number of flowering, 
broad-leaved evergreens, like magnolias, camellias, and 
oleanders, so the gardens are gay throughout the mild 
winter months. The sky is oftener blue than that of Italy 
and the sunshine more brilliant. Near Lisbon the climate 
is never very warm nor very cold, but in the early spring 


everything is at its best. 


198 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Perhaps the polychrome decoration applied so fre- 
quently to the architecture is a more or less unconscious 
reflection of the vivid landscape. Some of the houses 
have their plastered walls tinted soft shades of blue, 
green, pink, or buff; others are completely covered with 
tiles of geometrical or naturalistic designs, often original 
and charming. A love and understanding of the use of 
color seems almost universal, and is conspicuous, not 
only in the dwellings of both rich and poor, but in the 
architectural features of the many gardens. Designers of 
houses and gardens will be surprised to find in many 
parts of Portugal quantities of unknown material with a 
quality that cannot fail to fire their imaginations and 
provide inspiration for their work. 

Most of the morning, after my arrival before sunrise 
in Lisbon, I spent in trying to get over the effect of the 
journey there from Seville. Incidentally, let me explain 
that Portugal can be easily reached by steamboat lines 
from North and South America and from various parts 
of Europe, or by train de luxe from either Paris or Ma- 
drid, but to attempt to go there directly from Seville is 
a hideous mistake. However, in the afternoon, although 
the Mid-Lent Carnival crowded the streets with revel- 
lers dressed in fantastic costumes, I started out on a 
garden-hunt. My first objective was the country-seat 
of the Marquez de Fronteira at Bemfica, a small town 
with many outlying villas, reached by trolley from the 
city in about half an hour. Looking through the car- 


THE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 199 


windows I saw for the first time a succession of houses 
completely encased in glazed porcelain tiles, often with 
floral patterns, such as a climbing morning-glory vine 
on a white ground, very different from any manufac- 
tured in Spain. Wrought-iron gates, that intersected the 
high stone walls, disclosed picturesque forecourts orna- 
mented by fountains and statuary, borders bright with 
flowers against backgrounds of clipped evergreens, and 
small palaces covered with tiles or made of colored 
cement. Some of these fine old residences had survived 
the great earthquake of 1755, when not only half the 
city, but part of the suburbs was destroyed. 

Not long after passing the Zoological Gardens with 
attractive, formal, eighteenth-century pleasure-grounds, 
I alighted from the tram in front of a well-designed stone 
gateway dated 1726, and, turning to the left, walked up a 
pleasant road that passed by two or three villas protected. 
by high walls broken by gateways and windows covered 
merely by iron grilles, so that the plantations were not 
wholly concealed. In one of them a quaint irrigating 
wheel, loaded down with a variety of receptacles for 
carrying water, was similar to those introduced by the 
Moors when they occupied the country in the Middle 
Ages. 

The Quinta de Fronteira lies opposite Sao Domingos, 
a monastery on a hillside about five minutes’ walk from 
the car-line running through Bemfica. A paved forecourt 
enclosed by walls and wrought-iron screens separates the 


200 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


road from the dignified but unpretentious palace, begun 
in the seventeenth century and completed about 1712, 
in the style of the Portuguese Renaissance, although its 
architect was an Italian. During the first half of the 
nineteenth century this was the home of Dona Leonor 
d’Almeida, fourth Marqueza d’Alorna, distinguished as 
a writer under the name of *‘ Alcipe.”? Among her friends 
were Madame de Staél and many other noted foreigners. 
The Comte de Saint-Priest, French Minister to Portugal 
at this time, describes her salon as the most frequented 
in Europe. No doubt the guests enjoyed continuing their 
discussions as they wandered over the pleasure-grounds. 
‘‘Alcipe’? was interested in flowers and wrote a much 
admired poem on botany as a recreation. 

Upon entering the large garden, through a door in 
the wall at the left of the house, the beauty and the 
novelty of the scene that rose before my eyes almost took 
my breath away. It had a character all its own, and 
recalled nothing that I had seen in the course of my 
travels over Spain, Italy, or France. Every idea, what- 
ever its source, had been freely translated into a style 
that was essentially Portuguese. The whole effect was 
delightfully gay and spontaneous, showing a knowledge 
of the past, but no subservience to tradition. 

Nothing could be simpler than the plan of this garden, 
as 1s shown in the illustrations. A rectangular enclosure. 
nearly two hundred and fifty feet square, below the 
house, is bounded by walls, balustrades, and parapets. 


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THE PALACE AND GARDEN, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 


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iE BarOk TUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 203 


Two paths, about fifteen feet broad, emphasizing the 
main axes, divide this plot of ground into quarters, and 
each of these four sections is subdivided by paths six 
and a half feet wide into four lesser squares. There are 
accordingly sixteen sections, each forming a unit forty- 
five feet square, laid out with box-edged flower-beds 
centring on an evergreen, clipped into the shape of a 
chess-pawn. At the intersection of the main paths in 
the centre of the parterre, and also at the intersection 
of the subsidiary paths, are circles containing marble 
fountains, thus making the five accents that correspond - 
to the five spots on dice, which the Romans first called 
a qUuincunx. 

The planting may once have been as regular as the 
plan is symmetrical, but last March it had grown to 
appear delightfully haphazard. This is because for many 
years there was no attempt to keep up the grounds and 
the present owner is just beginning to get them into 
good shape. It is to be hoped that he will appreciate that 
slight irregularities, though they may come by chance, 
produce an effect of spontaneity that is more pleasing 
than the extreme orderliness and precision carried to such 
perfection in France. Formality destroys intimacy, and 
this garden, in spite of its size, goes straight to one’s 
heart. Here and there was a tea rose, an oleander, or 
mimosa in standard form, with a head about ten feet 
high, standing in no particular relation to its fellows. 
Some beds were filled with stock of the Beauty of Nice 


204 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


variety, just coming into flower; others contained masses 
of intense blue anemones or purple iris. An occasional 
group of tulips added a touch of vermilion. Whether 
arranged by accident or on purpose, this combination of 
fluffy yellow mimosa blossoms, salmon-pink roses, and 
oleanders with purple iris below them and an azure sky 
above, in contrast with the dark green evergreen accents, 
made a perfect color-scheme. 

Unusual as are’ some of the architectural features, 
none of them are too obvious. The duplex basins and 
the ornaments surmounting the fountains are of a soft 
grayish-pink marble that is an admirable foil to the 
flowers. The tiles enriching the walls and parapet are 
the dull cobalt blue that we associate with Delft ware, 
though they have been manufactured for centuries in 
Portugal. On one side an immense tank about two hun- 
dred feet long and sixty wide, used as a duck-pond, is 
certainly unique. Above it a terrace, terminating with a 
gazebo at each end, 1s fifteen or sixteen feet higher than 
the level of the ground. Near the corners are four statues 
under five feet high, standing near the surface of the 
water. At the back of the tank are depicted the twelve 
chivalrous knights who went to England in 1413 to 
champion twelve insulted ladies of the English Court 
and successfully routed their opponents. These heroes of 
the golden age of chivalry are seen as large as life and 
mounted on horseback. Camoéns describes them in the 
sixth canto of the “Lusiads” as being welcomed by an 


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THE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 207 


ancestor of the Marquez de Fronteira, the great Duke 
of Lancaster, and says that they appeared 


With arms and uniforms on latest plan, 
With helmets, crests, devices, gems of art, 
Horses and all that color could impart. 


From the terrace above the duck-pond I passed 
through one of the gazebos and along a raised walk, over- 





Lazarus 


A FOUNTAIN, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 


shadowed on the left by a high retaining-wall broken by 
niches containing terra-cotta busts of the Portuguese 
kings, while on the right there is a view, unobstructed by 
a low parapet, of the so-called English garden. It 1s laid 
out with serpentine paths radiating from a star-shaped 
pool. Auricarias and other large trees must shut out 


208 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





PARAPET SEATS, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 


the sun completely in summer, making it a delightful 
retreat when the heat is intense. Tucked away in a 
corner at the farthest end is a curious little grotto deco- 
rated with very fine shell- and pebble-work, overlooking 
a unique fountain. : 

Unfortunately, there is not space to describe the va- 
rious other architectural features in detail. No visitor 
should miss seeing the chapel, which is much older than 
the house, and the interesting terrace walk leading to it 
from the palace, with its wall elaborately decorated with 
pictures painted on tiles, statues, fountains, and Della 
Robbia-like medallions. Its pavement of pinkish and 
grayish marble will repay study. The large, irregularly 
shaped tank on an upper level, with its complement of 


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THE UPPER POOL, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 


statuary, is another sequestered spot that gave me a 
delightful surprise. | 

The Dominican Monastery, a stone’s throw away 
from the Quinta de Fronteira, was built in 1399, and had 
to be restored after the great earthquake in the middle 
of the eighteenth century. In the church there, designed 
by B. Alvares, is a chapel built in 1600 by Bishop Fran- 
cisco de Castro, where he interred the remains of his 
great ancestor, the fourth Viceroy of India, and erected 
a monument to his memory. When the monastic orders 
were suppressed, this building was taken over by the 
Government and partly used for a boys’ school. Outside 
the empty western end is a charming eighteenth-century 


212 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


garden, deserted except for one faithful caretaker. He 
still clips the topiary work, keeps the borders trim, and 
fills the beds with masses of stock and other flowers, 
although there is no one else to enjoy their beauty. 
There are several fountains and statues of smiling, 
gracious appearance that add a final touch reminiscent 
of bygone galeties. 

On the way back from Bemfica to Lisbon, it is worth 
while to stop to look at some of the old fountains and 
parterres in the Zodlogical Gardens, which are on the 
car-line. A road at the side of these grounds leads around 
a corner to the Quinta das Laranjeiras now belonging to 
the Condessa de Burnay. Formerly it was the property 
of the Conde de Farrobo and the scene of many festivities. 
An English visitor writes of going there to several gay 
parties early in the nineteenth century, and noticed 
among the guests Dom Pedro, the former Emperor of 
Brazil, wearing plain clothes and seeming to enjoy him- 
self very much. 

The house of plaster, painted a soft shade of salmon- 
pink, stands directly on the street, as was the fashion at 
Bemfica, where the ladies of the family liked to sit near 
the windows and watch the passers-by in the afternoon. 
At the back ts a loggia on a level with the second story 
overlooking part of the gardens. Near the house is a 
large parterre with box-edged beds, each filled with a 
single kind of flower, such as stocks or geraniums, and 
some of them accented by tall evergreens clipped into 


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simple shapes. Minor accents are furnished by potted 
plants raised on pedestals, by curved benches set in 
niches beside the paths, and by fountain-basins. From 
the centre of the house is a vista passing beyond the 
wrought-iron gates through the adjoining Zodlogical Gar- 
dens. [The dense woodland on each side has the appear- 
ance of being wild, and in contrast to the trim parterre 
adds very much to the general effect. 

Shady alleys open from the parterre in other direc- 
tions. One leads to a high wall with a statue in the centre 
and doorways on each side entering into a wooded hill- 
side. Another ends at the tennis-court, and beyond it 
is a raised platform supporting a pergola that must be 
a pleasant place to sit and watch the progress of a game. 
The treatment of the wall behind the row of columns, 

with blue tiles forming pictures in the central panels and 
| encasing benches and boxes for the ivy climbing over | 
the trellis-work, is very gay and interesting. The central 
doorway discloses an enchanting swimming-pool, with 
parallel colonnades and tiled pictures on each side. A 
statue stands in a niche at the back. In the Conde de 
Farrobo’s day there was a theatre on the grounds where 
he gave operas, but that was destroyed by fire some years 
ago. 

One of the most interesting courtyards that had 
arrested my attention on the way to Bemfica proved 
to be connected with the fine old palace of Palhava, 
where the illegitimate children of King José VI used to 


216 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


live in semi-state. A double staircase leads from the pic- 
turesque forecourt up to the garden which lies on one side 
of the house on a level with the second story. The large 
parterre with box-edged flower-beds contains some fine 
trees and is ornamented with imposing fountains and 





THE FORECOURT, PALACE OF PALHAVA 


statuary. This villa is now the residence of the Spanish 
Ambassador, whose daughter very kindly showed me 
over the grounds and took me to see some of the hand- 
some reception rooms in the house with walls covered by 
crimson damask and some superb tapestries. 

On the road to Cintra is the country-seat of Queluz 
de Baixo, formerly belonging to the kings of Portugal. 
The present palace, a pleasing example of the baroque — 


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THE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE — 219 


style in one of its more restful phases, was erected 
towards the close of the eighteenth century, but the 
grounds were laid out at an earlier period, not all at 
the same time. For centuries a favorite resort of the 
royal family, it now belongs to the Government and is 





THE ROYAL PALACE AT QUELUZ 


visited only by a few tourists. At the back of the palace 
are two rather elaborate parterres, one sunken below the 
other, partly enclosed by buildings and a wall on three 
sides, while the fourth ts left open in order not to conceal 
alluring vistas down green alleys cut through the wood- 
land. The box-edgings are still kept trim and the beds 
are not wholly destitute of flowers, but the fountains no 
longer play and the atmosphere seems tinged with melan- 


220 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


choly. Vases and statuary add to the general effect, and 
the large fountain is very striking with groups of graceful 
figures seated around the coping of the basin. 





TERRACE AND FOUNTAIN, QUELUZ 


At one end of the palace the ground falls away abruptly 
and slopes down to a brook, which is the central motive 
in an unusual decorative scheme. The bed of this stream 
has been encased in a tile-covered floor and walls sur- 
mounted by parapets, also encrusted with tiles and 
broken at intervals by balustrading. Then there is a 
bridge ornamented by statues and with still more tiles; 
all are embellished with quaint pictures painted in soft 
cobalt blue. A shady walk beside the brook leads to a 


THE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 220 


stone platform enclosed by an openwork parapet, charm- 
ing even if rather florid in design, and with two-faced 
busts and urns ornamenting the posts at the openings. 
In the centre is a large shell-shaped fountain-basin, and 
behind it a statue. This pleasant terrace, within sight 
and sound of a splashing waterfall, must have been a 
pleasant spot to spend a warm day. Other attractive 
nooks will be discovered by those who wander over the 
grounds at leisure. 

An evening féte in the gardens of Queluz when Dom 
Joao, the Prince Regent, and his consort, the Spanish 
Infanta Carlota, were living there in the summer of 1794, 
is amusingly described in “‘ Recollections of an Excursion 
to Alcobaca and Batalha,” by William Beckford, an 
Englishman then residing at Cintra. ‘“‘Cascades and 
fountains were in full play; a thousand sportive sets d'eau 
were sprinkling the rich masses of bay and citron, and 
drawing forth all their odours, as well-taught water is 
certain to do upon all such occasions. Amongst the 
thickets, some of which received a tender light from 
tapers placed low on the ground under frosted glasses, 
the Infanta’s nymph-like attendants, all thinly clad after 
the example of her royal and nimble self, were glancing 
to and fro, visible one instant and invisible the next.” 
Soon he was conducted to the Infanta, and thus relates 
their meeting in ‘“‘an amphitheatre of verdure concealed 
in the deepest recess of the odoriferous thickets, where, 
seated in the Oriental fashion on a rich velvet carpet 


222 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


spread on the grass, I beheld the Alcina of the place, 
surrounded by thirty or forty young women, every one 
far superior in loveliness of feature and fascination of 
smile to their august mistress.”’ 

‘“How did you leave the fat waddling monks of Alco- 
baca?”’ said Her Royal Highness. ‘‘I hope you did not 
run races with them: but that would indeed have been 
impossible. There,’ continued she, ‘‘down that avenue, 
if you like, when I clap my hands together, start; your 
friend Pedro and two of my donzellas shall run with you 
— take care you are not beaten.” 

When Philip II of Spain was securing for himself and 
his descendants the throne of Portugal, he wrote to his 
daughters from Cintra and mentioned having seen in 
that neighborhood several gardens that he was sure 
they would enjoy visiting. Among them were the ter- 
races at the monastery of Penalonga and below the old 
palace at Cintra. The little Jardim de Linderaya has 
a box-edged parterre laid out in an unusual design 
around a fountain, but is of no great importance. More 
interesting are some of the architectural features pre- 
served in the palace, where many historical events took 
place. 

Moors erected the earliest portions, and they were 
altered and enlarged by King Jodo I, who married Leo- 
nora, daughter of the English Duke of Lancaster, at the 
close of the fourteenth century. The work was carried on 
by his successors. Outside the Sala dos Cygnes is a long 


Pore rok VGH Sl PVEASAUNGCE 223 


shallow tank built by Dom Joao for the benefit of some 
swans given to his daughter, Princess Isabel, at the time 


of her betrothal, by her future husband Philip, Duke of 





THE POOL. OF THE SWANS, ROYAL PALACE 
CINTRA 


Burgundy. In the adjoining patio, surrounded by the 
high walls of the palace, Moorish workmen were em- 
ployed by King Manuel the Fortunate in the early part 
of the sixteenth century to build the grotto containing the 
curious shower-bath. At that time Portugal had ex- 
panded through the achievements of her great explorers 


224 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


from a tiny kingdom to a mighty empire. The spiral pil- 
grims’ column in front of the grotto is called a pelhourino, 
and is a type of decoration frequently adopted both in 
Portuguese architecture and furniture. Magnolias and 
orange-trees cast pleasant shadows on the mellow pave- 


ment; 





SALA DO CONSELHO, ROYAL PALACE 
CINTRA 


In this part of the palace is also a terrace, sometimes 
called the Sala do Conselho, built by Dom Jodo I. The 
armchair and long benches, covered with early azulejos, 
are where the unlucky King Sebastiao and his advisers 
sat when discussing the ill-fated expedition to Africa. 
His decision cost him his life besides resulting in great loss 


THE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 225 


of territory and eventually led to the accession of the 
Spanish dynasty. 

Dom Joao de Castro, the illustrious Indian Viceroy, 
built a country-seat called Penha Verde, near Cintra. 





A HILLSIDE CHAPEL, PENHA VERDE 


There he spent the last part of his life in retirement and 
comparative poverty, as he scorned to accept any sub- 
stantial reward for his services. It is sad to find that 
the garden he laid out on a terrace near the house has 
almost entirely disappeared. The hill above he planted 
with rare trees that he had brought back with him from 


226 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


the Orient, and some of them still live, although in a 
sad state of neglect. With difficulty a path can be dis- 
covered winding up the hillside past several tiny deserted 
chapels covered with quaint old tiles. At the top is a 
small round stone building called the Capella do Nossa 
Senhora do Monte, on a piece of level ground affording 
a beautiful view of steep slopes covered with a luxuriant 
growth of trees and a vast plain merging into the blue 
of the ocean. Here, where he must have often come to 
possess his soul with noble aspirations during his life- 
time, lies buried Dom Joao’s heart. The Latin inscrip- 
tion on the stone slab above was translated by Southey: 


A heart sublime, and than the earth’s wide bourne 
More ample lies within this little urn. 

A heart in worth and birth to him allied, 

Whom vanquished India hails his country’s pride, 
A heart to holy Mary’s love subdued, 

A heart most heartily pious, brave and good. 
Here all Sadanha lies inurned, not part, 

For here his heart lies, and he was all heart. 

At Cintra, or within easy reach of there, are many 
other gardens, some of them with interesting architec- 
tural features. Buibafria, for instance, on a hill at the 
northwest, includes a reservoir with columns and other 
constructions built in the sixteenth century and resem- 
bling parts of a Florentine villa. Behind the imposing 
palace of Setiaes is a terrace with a fountain and flower- 
beds edged with box, but the chief attractions there are 
the historical associations and the extensive view. The 


Marquis of Marialva was the host at an evening party 


THE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 207 


given there in honor of the royal family, and among the 
guests was Beckford, who wrote an amusing account of 
this event. He describes the Queen and the Princess of 
Brazil watching the fireworks and the little Infanta talk- 
ing to some high-born ladies, who sat cross-legged on the 
floor. Then there was Dona Rosa, the favorite dwarf 
negress, dressed in a flaming scarlet riding habit and flirt- 
ing with a handsome Moor belonging to the Marquis. 
Before the republic there were lovely and compara- 
tively modern gardens at the royal palace of Pena, above 
Cintra. Ferdinand of Coburg, the husband of Queen 
Maria II, built the palace with the aid of a German 
architect, and they also laid out the terraces and part of 
the extensive grounds. The Quinta da Ramalhoa also was 
once royal property and may have fallen into disrepair. 
Probably the earliest garden, somewhat suggesting the 
_ style of the Italian Renaissance, is the Quinta da Bacalhoa 
at Azeitao, near Setubal. The house is supposed to have 
been built in the last quarter of the fifteenth century 
by Dona Brites, the mother of King Manuel I, and was 
bought in 1528 by Dom Affonso de Albuquerque, the 
son of the Indian Viceroy, who probably added the 
gardens. In a secluded corner is one of the little alegrete 
or secret gardens, which captivated the fancy of Philip 
II. It is connected with the house by a loggia, orna- 
mented by wonderful old tiles, and contains a pool. At 
the opposite corner of the upper walled pleasure-grounds, 
lying on a terrace, is another subdivision almost filled | 


228 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


by a large reservoir about eighty feet square. Overlook- 
ing it is a long loggia with pavilions at the centre and 
at each end. Here also are some entertaining pictures 
painted on tiles. In fact, Bacalhoa is a perfect paradise 
for collectors of azulejos, as over thirty different patterns 
are to be seen there, not to mention a series of tile pic- 
tures, one of them dated 1565, medallions in the style 
of Della Robbia and terra-cotta busts. 

Naturalistic parks filled with rare and beautiful trees 
and a luxuriant undergrowth of shrubs, while the ground 
is covered with masses of myrtle or acanthus, at the 
Quinta de Monserrate, the Cercal de Bussaco, and the 
Quinta of the Duchess of Palmella, near Lumiar give 
foretastes of paradise. But, like the Botanical Gardens at 
Lisbon considered the finest in Europe, they do not pro- 
perly come within the range of my subject. Nor do elabo- 
rate architectural features wholly disconnected with gar- 
dens, such as the Baroque outdoor stairways at Braga 
and at Lamengo, or the still more monumental one, in- 
cluding a succession of waterfalls, at Bussaco. 

Among the earliest of the great monasteries is the 
Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Victoria, at Batalha. It 
was erected by King Joao I to commemorate his victory 
over his brother-in-law, the King of Castile. The build- 
ing was begun in 1388 at the instance of Joao’s English 
wife, Philippa of Lancaster, who may have obtained the 
plans and the workmen to help carry them out through 
some of her relatives in England. The master-builders 


PHE PORTUGUESE PLEASAUNCE 229 


were Affonso Dominguez, a Portuguese, and a certain 
Houget, possibly an Irishman. Of the three courtyards 
enclosed in the monastery, that known as the Claustro 
Real is by far the most important. The tracery in the 
upper part of the arches was added by King Manuel I 
and includes his symbol, the armillary sphere, branches 
covered with thorns, lotuses symbolizing the East, and 
the double crosses of the Order of Christ. Fortunately, 
the parterre, accented by five fountains that form a quin- 
cunx, 1s still shaded by trees and bright with flowers. An 
exquisite little pavilion over a well projects at one corner. 

Only eight miles from Batalha is the Cistercian Abbey 
of Alcobaca, built from the twelfth to the fourteenth 
centuries. The cloisters there, begun by King Diniz and 
completed by King Manuel I with the aid of his favorite 
architect, Joao de Castilho, are especially beautiful. The 
lower story is pure Gothic, while the upper one is in 
the Manueline style. At one corner is a well-house. In 
the Capella dos Tumulos are recumbent statues of King 
Pedro and the unfortunate Inez de Castro. Other clois- 
ters in the same style can be seen in the Mosteiro de Santa 
Cruz, at Coimbra. | 

At Thomar, in the wonderful Convento de Christo, a 
combination of monastery and palace formerly belonging 
to the Knights of Christ, there are cloisters dating from 
the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries illustrating a 
succession of different styles of architecture. The oldest 
part is Gothic and originally belonged to the Templar 


230 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Knights, while the Claustro dos Filippes, built by the 
Spanish kings, is one of the finest examples of the late 
Renaissance in Portugal. In the church of this monastery 
Philip II of Spain was crowned King of Portugal in a 
blaze of splendor, although he was sick at heart owing 
to the recent death of his wife and the enforced sepa-— 
ration from his beloved children. In one of El Greco’s 
masterpieces he painted Philip as Emperor of India 
receiving homage from the kings of Mexico and Peru. 
The cloisters of the Portuguese monasteries used to be 
laid out with fountains and charming box-edged par- 
terres filled with trees and flowers, but since the suppres- 
sion of the religious orders in 1834, these gardens have 
also, many of them, disappeared. Perhaps the most beau- 
tiful of all are the cloisters of the Convento dos Jeronymos 
de Belém, on the bank of the Tagus in a suburb west of 
the city. On this spot Vasco da Gama had prayed for 
the success of his expedition to the Orient, in a little 
chapel built by Henry the Navigator, and when he 
returned in 1499, after discovering the sea route to India, 
King Manuel I erected the imposing monastery and 
church to celebrate this great event, which resulted in 
adding India to the Portuguese Empire. Although the 
monastery is now used for a boys’ school, the most 
interesting parts of the building are accessible to visi- 
tors. From the upper ambulatory the view of the su- 
perb cloisters is comprehensive. It 1s considered the best 
example of the early Manueline style at the period 


HES PORLU GEES ES PEE ASAUNCE eal 


when the Gothic flowered into Renaissance architecture. 
Northern critics used to contend that the absence of 
visible restraint was a violation of the canons of good 
taste, but now that the baroque period has come back 
into fashion, the richly ornamented stone-work of the 
Portuguese Renaissance does not seem over-exuberant. 
The fact that this section of the building was begun and 
completed within a short space of time gives its appear- 
ance a unity that 1s rare and very pleasing, but the effect 
would be greatly improved if the ground, instead of 
being an ugly expanse of gravel, were ornamented bya 
parterre, and if many-colored flowers were brought into 
relief against the arcade designed by Joao de Castilho 
and built of fine white stone from the quarries of Estre- 
madura. Until 1833, the cloister-garth was occupied by 
flower-beds, and in the centre was a fountain now rele- 


- gated to a corner where it is hardly visible. 


CELUAP TERSex 
ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 


SOME practical hints as to how to give gardens a Spanish 
or Portuguese appearance may be of interest to prospec- 
tive garden-makers, if to no one else. In Spain an out- 
side enclosure for an ornamental plantation usually 
includes an area varying from perhaps twenty-five hun- 
dred to four thousand square feet; of course, some patios 
are smaller and a few princely pleasure-grounds are far 
more extensive. If a larger plot is available, other quad- 
rangles are added, but, instead of throwing them all into 
one, each is treated as a separate unit. Typically laid 
out, the enclosure would be divided into quarters by two 
main paths that, at their intersection in the middle of 
the garden, would widen into a circle accented by a 
fountain or a well-head and curved benches. Another 
path ordinarily runs around the outside near the wall. 
No plan could be more familiar, for it is one that has 
commended itself to architects in every age and in 
almost every country. It is in their handling of the 
details that the Spaniards have expressed their own 
peculiar predilections. No strict adherence to symmetry 
cramps their style. Cloisters and patios, as well as outer 
enclosures, are singularly lop-sided and irregular, al- 
though the design is formal. A love of mystery shows 


LVOAUAOTT AG SANONTdSA LV 1OOd ONIHLVA V 
soy . 











ACHE Gh Rave ACCESSORIES 235 





Mas 


RESERVOIR, TORRE FIGUEROLA, NEAR BARCELONA 


itself in the studied prolongation of shadows, in the 
Partial concealment of the rarest objects so that they 
may be discovered with surprise, and in the contrivance 
of dark, hidden nooks. Neither dignity nor reserve is 
ever lacking, but there is a marked absence of a desire 
for display. The general effect is one of freedom from 
servile restraint within certain definite boundaries and 
of beauty carefully concealed from profane eyes. 

Water is always the crowning charm of a Spanish 
garden, besides being fundamental to its very existence. 
Extremely important are the methods adopted in the 
use of this precious liquid both for practical and orna- 
mental purposes. Moorish influence is especially evident 
even to-day in the systems of irrigation and in the dis- 
position of the many reservoirs, wells, fountains, and 


236 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


rivulets. Tanks or estanques remain an essential adjunct 
to every plantation, as in Persia and India. Usually these 
reservoirs have copings of stone or cement raised a foot 





FOUNTAIN, CISTERCIAN MONASTERY 
MONFERO 


‘or two above the ground. Sometimes they are partially 
screened by outside walls or arcades as shown in the 
accompanying illustrations, and serve for bathing or 
swimming pools. | 


The fascination of running water is thoroughly under- 


ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES Dai 





FOUNTAIN, PALACIO CAMEROSA, OCA 


stood and brought into play. Flowing streams, from 
several feet in width down to tiny rivulets in the railing 
of a staircase, ripple through open channels instead of | 
being hidden within pipes underground. Fountains are 
devised to display to the best possible advantage a small 
amount of water; it might spout from a lion’s mouth or 
overflow from an upper to a lower basin, if treated in 
the Moorish style exemplified at Seville and Granada; 
while it would rise through the centre of a stone post 
and burst from holes near the top, if in the Gothic 
fashion. The fountain at the Palacio Camerosa at Oca 
is a Renaissance interpretation of the Gothic, and the 
one at the Hospital Real at Santiago shows both Gothic 
and Moorish influence, although it might be classed as 
Baroque. When typical, the lower basin is star-shaped 


238° SPANISH AND. PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


or octagonal, and set a few inches below the ground, 
with the coping either raised or level with the outside 
pavement, but the upper receptacle is usually round. 
Not only in Andalusian, but also in Catalan examples, 
the coping and the inside of the lower basin are en- 





LION, PAVILION OF JUANA 


crusted with tiles. The well-heads, which are often the 
central features of enclosures, are varied; some have plain 
circular walls about three feet high made of stone or 
cement along the lines of the simple model at the her- 
mitage of Los Angeles, and others are richly ornamented 
with carving or tiles and surmounted by elaborate 





A WELL AT THE HERMITAGE OF LOS ANGELES 





ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 241 


wrought-iron arches. Then there are varieties of wall- 
fountains ranging from those in niches of Moorish origin 
to the fantastic productions of the late Renaissance, like 
the one in a corner at the Palacio Camerosa. Slender 





Mas 
WALL FOUNTAIN, PALACIO CAMEROSA 


streams of water often shoot up from bronze or iron 
spouts near the ground, as in the Patio de los Cipreses at 
the Generalife, and tumble into pools or moisten the 
pavement in hot weather. These sparkling, trickling jets 
lend animation to the scene and join with the fragrance 


242 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


of the flowers to delight our senses. A Persian proverb 
says that three sounds are beautiful — the voice of a 
beloved woman, the clink of gold, and the murmur of 
running water. 3 

A marked characteristic of many Spanish gardens, 
especially of those where Moorish influence prevails, 
is the lavish use of glazed pottery. Undoubtedly the 
Persians taught the Moors how to manufacture this 
faience, but the exquisite turquoise-blue so admired in 
Persia and Asia Minor never was matched in Spain, nor 
were the designs executed there comparable to the 
masterpieces produced by Oriental craftsmen during the 
Middle Ages. Faience tiles, well-heads, and jars, if not 
flower-pots, were turned out by Moorish potters. Their 
wares commonly have a metallic lustre like the specimens 
found at Az-Zahra. 

Several types of tiles or azuleyos made in Spain are 
used out-of-doors. Some of the earliest designs have the 
appearance of mosaics made of different-colored strips to 
form dazzling geometrical combinations or to simulate 
interlacing ribbons. In the thirteenth century, coats of 
arms were copied, and in the fifteenth, animals were fre- 
quently depicted. Most of these tiles were manufac- 
tured by the cuerda seca process, a line of grease and 
manganese preventing the wet colors from running to- 
gether. Good examples can be seen at the Alhambra 
and at Seville in the Casa Olea and in the palaces of the 
Duke of Alba and the Duke of Medinacel. 





A WALL FOUNTAIN, ROYAL PALACE, CINTRA 


x 


? 





ARGHEREGTURAL ACCESSORIES 245 





PAVILION OF CHARLES V, ALCAZAR GARDENS 


Early in the sixteenth century two new processes were 
introduced. One was named cwenca, because the design 
was depressed, leaving ridges that separated the colors. 
For the tiles made in this way geometrical designs were 
not discarded, but flowers, grapevine leaves, and pome- 
granates also furnished inspiration. Cwencas encase the 
walls of the pavilion of Charles V in the Alcazar Gardens. 
Seen from a distance, the iridescent, coppery glaze on 
some of the earlier cuencas gives them a luminous effect 
suggesting a stained-glass window illumined by the rays 
of the setting sun. 

At this time Niccola Pisano brought from Italy to 
Seville some of the ideas that the Della Robbias had 
developed in Florence. His practice was to paint freely 


246. SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


on white or yellow tiles with different colors, but chiefly 
with soft violets, blues, and yellows. At first the designs 
were rather conventional arabesques and figures; later, 
however, they included uninteresting copies of pictures. 
Tiles painted in this manner were called pzsanos, and 
were turned out in large numbers at Triano, Andujar, 
Talavera de la Reina, Barcelona, and other places. Tile- 
pictures became the fashion and were inserted in garden 
walls and even used for altar-pieces. Fine specimens of 
Pisano’s handiwork decorate the chapel sponsored by 
Isabella the Catholic in the Alcazar and the portal of 
the Convent of Santa Paula. Inside the adjacent church 
are some good sixteenth-century azulejos, and others cov- 
ered with arabesques decorate some of the benches of 
the gardens at the Alcazar. 

Granada, Toledo, Cordova, Calatayud, Barcelona, 
Malaga, Manises,. Valencia, Seville, Talavera de la 
Reina, and Andujar were each preéminent in the making 
of tiles at one time or another. The Osma Collection of 
Spanish faience, in Madrid, 1s the best of its kind and 
contains azulejos of every sort and description. It is in 
the hands of a board of trustees, and is sometimes acces- 
sible to visitors. Smaller collections are in the museums 
at Seville and Cordova. In the Hotel Reina Cristina at 
Algeciras are a large number of the pzsanos made for 
many centuries at Andujar and painted with a variety 
of genre figures, animals, castles, landscapes, and flowers. 
Others of this description can be seen in the Hotel de 


VooO ‘VSOUANVO Jd SANIGUV![ ‘NIOAUASAY AHL SSOYOV AOAIUA V 








ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 249 


Madrid in Seville, and of course in several museums and 
in many public and private patios and gardens. 

Good modern tiles and flower-pots are manufactured 
at T'riano, near Seville, in Talavera, Andujar, Valencia, 
and Barcelona. The old designs are copied, and although 
the colors seem, sometimes, too staring, it may be partly 
because they have not undergone the softening influence 
of time. A typically Moorish geometrical pattern strikes 
a note that is too salient unless there is a more or less 
Oriental background, as in Andalusia. 

Manifold were the usages of tiles in gardens. Azulejos 
gave color to the pools, edged the flower-beds, orna- 
mented the steps, paved the paths, and covered the 
benches. Richly colored panels, designed to resemble 
hanging Turkish rugs, are inserted in the thickness of 
the wall enclosing a window niche in a patio at the 
Alcazar, in Seville. The risers of the steps there, as well 
as in the Patio de los Venerabiles and in the Generalife 
Gardens, are brightened by colored conventional ara- 
besques. Benches in almost every garden in Seville are 
decorated with pisanos or cuencas. Small squares of 
faience, combined with pinkish terra-cotta brick laid 
in the basket fashion, make a charming pavement at 
the Caso del Greco and in the Alcazar Gardens; at both 
places tiles are used in several other interesting ways. 
At Toledo, in the Convent of Santa Fé, are some old 
tiles forming a dado in the cloisters and an open-work 
parapet around the garth. There are benches and a 


250 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


brick pavement enriched with tiles in the cloisters of 
the convent at Pedralbes. The modern gardens outside 
Toledo and Barcelona, in Ronda, Seville, and many 
other places, abundantly testify to the factsthatetie 
making of azulejos continues to be a live industry. 

No Spanish garden or patio would be considered 
properly furnished unless it contained innumerable 
flower-pots, either common terra-cotta or glazed over 
different colors. A neutral shade of blue is a favorite 
which goes well with almost any flower; green, white, 
and black are also always safe. Lemon-yellow lights up 
a dark spot, and other colors are chosen for their peculiar 
fitness in a particular scheme of decoration. Large 
flower-pots, mounted on pedestals, present an imposing 
appearance; medium-sized ones are placed at intervals 
on the coping of a fountain-basin, while small editions 
line the edges of steps and the tops of walls or are 
scattered about in the patio. All are filled with blossom- 
ing plants both winter and summer. Urban gardens, in 
fact, often contain only potted flowers. 

Well-heads used to be maufactured of colored faience 
in Seville and Toledo. Examples made by Moorish 
workmen are in the museums at Toledo and Cordova. 
A good white-and-green one is at the Victoria and Albert 
Museum in London. 

Wrought-iron work was brought to great perfection in 
Spain between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. 
The different kinds of gates and screens, or reja, evolved 


NCHRP CRU RARSACCESSORIES 250 


during the development of this craft can be studied to 
the best possible advantage in some of the great cathe- 
drals and monasteries, but good examples can be seen 
in private gardens and in many out-of-the-way places. 





Laurent 


REJA, CLOISTERS, TOLEDO CATHEDRAL 


Romanesque rejas that protect two sides of the former 
fountain-house, now called the Capilla de Santa Cruz, 
projecting at one corner of the cloisters beneath the 
Cathedral at Pamplona, are beautiful specimens of the 
tendril pattern said to have been made at the begin- 
ning of the thirteenth century, but, like the veya arabe 
in the Palencia Cathedral. are almost too elaborate to 


252 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


serve as models to be copied for use out-of-doors. In 
both cathedrals there are also sixteenth-century screens 
worthy of notice. As early as 1250, the reputation of 
two Catalan blacksmiths had reached Paris, and they 
were summoned there to forge some grilles for the 
Cathedral of Notre Dame. Spanish interpretations of 
French Gothic can be compared in the cloisters of the 
Cathedral at Barcelona. Each of the twenty chapels 
opening into the ambulatory has a grille, and each of 
these is slightly different, yet they all go together well. 
The upright bars are round and the ornamentation is 
chiefly confined to a cresting of lilies above a band of 
scrollwork. 

The gates opening from the Capilla de San Blas into 
the cloisters of the Cathedral at Toledo date as far back 
as the early fifteenth century. They form a good Gothic 
example of the lattice pattern made with square bars, 
one of the simplest to copy and most appropriate for a 
garden. Other good reyas made in the next century are 
inside the church. Different types of later Gothic and 
very early Renaissance can be found in the Cathedrals 
of Leon and Burgos as well as in the cloisters of Tar- 
ragona. 

Square bars alternating with twisted ones are used to 
screen the openings into the cloisters at the Cathedral 
of Siguenza and shield the cathedral chapels at Cuenca. 
A few simple scrolls enrich the designs ascribed to the 
first years of the sixteenth century, and are characteristic 





A WINDOW IN THE WALL, ALCAZAR GARDENS 





PROM TE ECUIRAL ACCESSORIES eats 


of the best Spanish workmanship, when the Gothic was 
becoming merged in the Plateresque phase of the early 
Renaissance. Inside the cathedral the grilles protecting 
the Chapels of the Annunciation and of Santa Librada 
are simple and almost perfect of their kind. All of them 
are worthy of imitation and, if the cresting were omitted, 
could be easily adapted to a modern environment. 
During the later Renaissance period the spindle- 
shaped rails replaced the square twisted bars, as can 
be seen in many of the cathedrals built at that time. 
At Burgos, Seville, Palencia, Cuenca, Granada, Plasencia, 
and Segovia, both in the Cathedral and the Church 
of San Martin, besides entrances at the Hospital de 
Santa Cruz, in Toledo, and at the University of Sala- 
manca, there are rejas including these spindles. They 
were used in the seventeenth-century entrance gate pre- 
served at the Hispanic Museum in New York, but, since 
they are easily copied in cast-iron, they appear at the 
present day as far less typical of the blacksmith’s craft 
than the earlier specimens. Windows and doorways cut 
through walls were protected by grilles that followed 
the successive fashions of the larger screens. Simple 
grilles can be seen in the gardens of the Generalife, the 
Alhambra, and the Alcazar, guarding both doors and 
windows. At Seville, there are several examples with 
square bars in the patios of the Casa Olea, besides a 
superb one of the spindle type in the Casa de Pilatos. 
Then there are not a few at Segovia, Granada, Sala- 


256 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


manca, Alcala, Toledo, Avila, and hundreds of less 
important towns. 

~ Other uses for wrought-iron occurred in the arches 
suspending pulleys above wells, and in the railings pro- 
tecting pools, terraces, and staircases. Elaborate nail- 
heads and bosses ornamenting doors are also interesting 
and characteristic features. At Majorca, well-heads are 
particularly common and appear to be invariably sur- 
mounted by these arches. Iron railings also are to be 
found at every turn. The illustrations show them on 
the edges of the steps and of the terraced walk at 
Los Venerabiles, similarly used in a patio of the Alcazar, 
and also fencing the pool in front of Queen Juana’s pa- 
vilion. 

Much attention was given to the pavement of the 
walks and terraces. The simplest method was to make 
them of yellow or brown clay packed down until very 
hard, of bricks, or of square unglazed tiles. When the 
brick was laid in the basket-work pattern, interstices 
were often left to be filled with small square glazed tiles 
of different colors, or squares of marble. If there was 
a coping at the edge of the beds, it might be of terra- 
cotta or of oblong blocks of colored faience. In Majorca 
and in some parts of Andalusia, notably Cordova and 
Granada, the pavement was commonly of round black, 
gray, and white pebbles that made a rustic mosaic, 
sometimes forming a simple chequered or diapered 
pattern, but not infrequently bringing into relief an 


ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 257 


escutcheon, a fleur-de-lis, or a more complicated heraldic 
emblem. All these methods are used to-day. 

A distinctive character is given to many of the en- 
closures by the treatment of the walls. Generally they 
are massively constructed of stone or cement and rise 





AN ARCHWAY, ALCAZAR GARDENS 


at least ten or twelve feet above the level of the ground, 
obviously being as much intended to afford shade as to 
protect the plants and screen the human occupants 
from outside observation. Variations in the height of 
these barriers were made deliberately to diversify the 
aspect of the enclosure. A coping at the top of a wall 


258 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


was seldom considered necessary, and more often it was 
protected by a little roof of slightly projecting tiles. If 
the construction was of cement, the surface would be- 
come unevenly undulated by the careless application 
of many coats of whitewash and make an agreeable 
background for clinging vines and pleached trees. Aper- 
tures for windows and doors, usually arched and some- 
times accentuated by ornamentation, allow the air to 
circulate and admit glimpses of the outside world. 
Hoods covered by tiles may project over the embrasure, 
seats may be built into the thickness of the wall, and 
the opening is almost invariably guarded by grilles made 
of iron or of wooden spindles or lattice-work. Doors of 
wood studded by large ornamental nails, or divided into 
panels and painted blue or a bluish-green, are not un- 
common. If the wall is thick enough, a walk can be 
inserted between two parapets at the top, suggesting, 
on a miniature scale, the promenade around the ram- 
parts of a fortified town. 

Places to sit are always provided in the garden, for 
it is not considered a museum that visitors will merely 
pass through to admire a floral display, but a comfortable 
out-of-doors living-room. Attractive spots, warm in 
winter, cool in summer, near fountains or overlooking 
particularly fine views, are furnished .with benches of 
wood, stone, cement, or tiles. Sometimes during the 
Renaissance period these seats were given greater promi- 
nence by combining them with posts surmounted by 


ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 259 





Mas 


BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE, CASA GOMEZ, HORTA 


urns, flower-pots, or statuary. Quaint decorative details, 
such as stone cushions like those on the benches shown 
in the frontispiece, were added by eighteenth-century 
designers. 

Architectural features in the lesser gardens were usu- 
ally on a small scale and far less conspicuous than in 
Italy during the corresponding age of the Renaissance. 
There were, however, some interesting stone terraces 
and stairways with good balustrades and parapets. If 
erected on an inclined plane, the top of the parapet is 
kept flat by bringing it down as if in steps, the successive 
ledges affording a footing for flower-pots. Bridges, also, 
might receive decorative treatment like those at Oca and 
Aranjuez. On the Island of Majorca are a great variety 


260 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 





Mas 


A PERGOLA AT SANTA MARIA, MAJORCA 


of pergolas with square or octagonal posts, rather than 
round columns, supporting coved rafters half-covered 
with poles or brushwood and overgrown with vines. In 
other parts of Spain rustic arbors uphold grapevines and 
give pleasant shade outside the humblest dwellings, but 
pergolas count for little in the larger gardens. Nor are 
garden-houses considered essential, since cypress arbors 
often take their:place. The gardens of themrcqza 
however, contain two charming constructions showing 





A PERGOLA AT ALFABIA 





reid! ee on 


os ae iy ; 
¥ bgt é 





Per LE Cha USACGCHSSORIES 2.63 


Moorish influence. One, known as the Pabellon de Juana, 
has a domed roof and is connected with a stone tank 
filled with water that flows from the mouth of a Byzan- 
tine-looking lion. The second, belonging to about the 








Mas 
SEMICIRCULAR SEAT, TORRE GLORIES 


same epoch, may have been intended for a banqueting- 
house, for its walls are covered with tiles and in the 
middle of the floor is a fountain connected with runnels 
of water. At the apex of the terraces above the Gene- 
ralife Palace is a charming little tower called a mzrador 
because it commands a view that arouses admiration. 


264 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Miniature temples became the fashion with the revival 
of classic architecture. Good examples can be seen at 
Aranjuez and at El Laberinto. In both places there are 
also interesting eighteenth-century garden-houses. Pa- 
vilions often ornamented the cloister-garth. There is a 
unique and beautiful brick well-house surmounted by a 
pinnacle, intended to be Gothic, but Moorish in execu- 
tion, erected in the middle of the Mudezar cloisters at 
Guadalupe. The same idea was carried out in the 
severely classic style by Juan de Herrera in the Patio 
de los Evangelistas at the Escorial. Charming little 
Baroque temples, with four round columns and domed 
roofs, were built in the latter half of the eighteenth 
century, in the Hospital Real at Santiago de Campostela. 
A fountain-house was often placed in a corner or at 
one side of the cloister-garth opening into the ambu- 
latory as in the monasteries of Poblet and Santas Creus, 
where there are nearly identical examples in the Gothic 
style. 

- Patios and cloisters are filled with suggestions espe- 
cially appropriate for urban gardens. In every courtyard 
either a colonnade or an arcade is conspicuous, but, as 
I have already pointed out, the columns in a patio rest 
on the pavement as in the Greek peristyle, while in the 
cloisters they are generally supported on a parapet. 
There are countless kinds of pillars, varying from plain 
square posts to the elaborately carved columns of the 
Patio de San Gregorio in Valladolid. Courtyards also 





Mas 


PAVILION OVER WELL, HOSPITAL REAL, SANTIAGO 





ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 267 


exhibit a great variety of parapets and balustrades, 
besides many interesting specimens of wrought-iron 
work. 

In the Moorish gardens statuary was a negligible 
quantity. Solemn lions, probably of Byzantine origin, 





Mas 


TERRACE, EL LABERINTO, HORTA 


spouted water into pools, but representations of other 
animals or of human beings were almost never used, 
partly owing to the tenets of the Moslem religion. Only 
the members of the Suni sect, however, observed these 
tenets strictly, and such prohibitions did not prevent 
Abd-ar-Ahmen III from erecting a statue of a woman 
above the gateway at the villa of Az-Zahra, named in 
her honor. Later, when under Christian influence the 


268 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


ban was lifted, and statuary occasionally occupied a 
place in pleasure-grounds, it was on a small scale, often 
hardly more than half life-size. This statement would 
not hold good in regard to the princely gardens of the 
Renaissance wherever Italian or French influence was 
paramount. There are many statues, both large and 
small, at both Aranjuez and La Granja, but they are 
almost entirely the work of foreign artists. Spanish 
sculptors seem never to have taken much interest in 
profane subjects and preferred to devote their energies 
to sepulchral effigies and images of the Holy Family. 
Numerous masterpieces of classic sculpture are thrown 
into relief against superb hedges in the remarkable Mon- 
forte Gardens at Valencia, and on the modern terraces of 
Senor Acosta and of the Villa de los Martires at Granada. 


The characteristics that differentiate Portuguese gar- 
dens can be touched upon only briefly here. The main 
lines of many of the garden-plans are similar —a rec- 
tangle divided by the two widest paths into quarters — 
but the treatment of the details 1s apt to have individu- 
ality and to reflect local color. There are cloister-garths 
in the monasteries, yet, while many of the larger houses 
have forecourts, few of those in Portugal have patios, 
although there are several in the royal palace at Cintra, 
where Moorish influence is evident. Besides the small 
enclosed pleasure-gardens noted by Philip II, and known 
as alegrete, there were large gardens not necessarily con- 





FOUNTAIN AND GROTTO, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 





Lazarus 


A TILE PICTURE AND FAIENCE SCULPTURE, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 


ARCHITECTURAL ACCESSORIES 271 


fined within high walls. In the extensive suburbs of 
Lisbon, and in the summer resorts and country towns 
not far from there, almost every house has a pretty 





STONE BALUSTRADE, QUELUZ 


little garden which it would be hopeless to attempt to 
describe in detail. 

Tiles are used even more freely than in the Anda- 
lusian gardens. Old azulejos— probably made by 
Moorish potters —of many different and interesting 
designs encrust the walls, fountains, and outside seats 
at the royal palace in Cintra. About thirty varieties of 
those belonging to later periods are placed in the Quinta 


272 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


di Bacalhoa, and there are also a great many at the 
Quinta de Fronteira and in the grounds of the royal 
palace at Queluz. Large blue tile-pictures often bedeck 
the garden-walls, and smaller ones set off parapets, 
flower-boxes, benches, fountains, canals, and reservoirs. 
Statues and busts, also of falience, are not uncommon. 
Everywhere colored flower-pots stand about. The best 
glazed pottery has been made for centuries at Caldas 
da Rainha. | 

Water gives life to every garden. Besides fountains 
are reservoirs and pools where ducks or fish may be at 
home. Some of the waterworks at the guintas mentioned 
above, besides those at Bibafria near Cintra, and at La- 
ranjeiras, are remarkably interesting. 

Portuguese architecture is celebrated for its beauti- 
fully carved stone-work. Good places to study it are 
the cloisters of the great monasteries. Beckford praises 
the fine carving of the balustrades on the promenade 
of the Botanical Gardens at Lisbon. The platform near 
the ornamented brook at Queluz has a parapet of pierced 
stone in a characteristic design. 


Coe VAMEA PIERS GE 
THE LIVING MATERIAL 


In the planting, as well as the planning, of Spanish 
gardens, Oriental traditions, that had prevailed in some 
provinces during nearly seven hundred years of Moorish 
rule, were never wholly cast aside and are being revived 
to-day. Outward forms often continue to be preserved, 
although the underlying reasons for their existence were 
presumably forgotten long ago. 

Symbolism played a very important part in all Eastern 
gardens, but did not necessarily have a religious signifi- 
cance. Many of its aspects have been well explained by 
Mrs. Villiers Stuart in her book entitled ‘‘The Gardens of 
the Great Mughals.” Frequently in India the story of 
Laila and Majnum, two faithful lovers who had fleeting 
glimpses of each other only twice on earth, is the chosen 
theme. A pair of somewhat dissimilar trees, such as a 
lemon and an orange, complementary palms or cedars, 
might be planted in the midst of a flower-border to repre- 
sent the lovers’ reunion in paradise. Or their unhappy 
separation in this world might be indicated by a weeping 
willow drooping near a water-lily, floating just out of 
reach. Various flowers suggested Laila’s physical charms. 
Glistening purple violets recalled the gloss and the per- 
fume of her bluish-black hair, the starry narcissus twin- 


274 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


kled like her eyes fringed by long lashes, tulips were akin 
to her curving mouth, and roses matched her cheeks. A 
rosebush rising above a small green mound symbolized 
Laila seated on a camel seeking her lover in the desert. 
Sometimes other stories and poems were translated into 
terms of living vegetation, but this one will suffice to 
illustrate the idea. 

Trees and shrubs occupied far more space in the pleas- 
aunce than flowers. A favorite combination, in both 
Persia and India, is that of a slender, dark green cypress 
contrasting with the pale, flowering branches of a plum or 
an almond. The sombre cypress was the emblem of 
death, while the brightly colored plum or the almond 
with its silvery pink flowers signified life and hope. 
Avenues of fruit-trees alternating with evergreens were 
planted frequently, and inspired the most decorative of 
the designs on Persian and Indian shawls, carpets, and 
embroideries. 

Orchards were held in high esteem, and ornamented a 
part of the pleasure-grounds. Spring flowers powdered 
the soil under the branches covered with myriads of blos- 
soms. Tulips, anemones, narcissi, and violets were scat- 
tered promiscuously, as we see them on the mille-fleurs 
Gothic tapestries and in the picture of Humay visiting 
the Chinese Court in a garden that is thoroughly Persian. 
Lotuses and water-lilies floated on the surface of the 
water stored in tanks or canals. 

Roses dominated the garden plants, and, besides the 


SVUIS(NVUVT LV ATTIV NATUO V 


SNMDEDT 








THE LIVING MATERIAL 27 


common yellow Persian variety, were others shading 
from white to pink and crimson. Whole enclosures were 
planted solely with roses, lilacs, or azaleas. In addition 
to the plants already mentioned, iris, poppies, lilies, and 





A STANDARD ROSE, QUINTA DE FRONTEIRA 


cyclamens were favorites. Among the annuals familiar to 
us were cultivated, after a while, petunias, zinnias, and 
marigolds. Sometimes a bed would be entirely filled with 
one kind of plant, and sometimes several would be inter- 
mingled. Most perennials flourished only in regions 
where the heat during summer was not intense; those that 
best survived were hollyhocks, delphiniums, and peonies. 


278 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


Then there were shrubs selected as much for their fra- 
grance as their beauty. 

As people spent their evenings out of doors, gardens 
were planted that were intended to be seen chiefly by 
moonlight. White flowers were chosen for these planta- 
tions, as at night colors would prove ineffective. For this 
purpose tuberoses, gardenias, petunias, poppies, roses, 
and lilies showed to advantage against shadowy hedges, 
and freighted the air with their perfume. ; 

Persian gardeners were employed by the Moors in 
Andalusia, so it is not surprising that the horticulture 
there resembled that of Persia. Many trees and shrubs 
were imported from the East and replanted along the 
same lines as in their former homes. In a twelfth-century 
book on agriculture, written by Abn Zacaria Iahia Aben 
Mohammed, sometimes called I[bn-al-Auwam, and trans- 
lated by J. A. Banqueri, 1s a long list of trees and shrubs 
described, with advice as to their cultivation in differ- 
ent parts of Andalusia. The writer had evidently lived 
for some time at Granada and Cordova. In his opinion 
cypresses should be used to line the most important 
paths and to accent the corners of the square beds of 
earth. Among the more beautiful trees to be planted in 
rows, stationed at the entrances or grouped around wells, 
tanks, and pools, he names pines, cedars, jasmines, lau- 
rels, lemons, and oranges. Elms, poplars, willows, and 
pomegranates are also recommended for planting near 
water, to shade it and keep it cool. He praises lavender, 


THE LIVING MATERIAL 270 


acacias, and mallow for their fragrance. Roses and lilies 
were the most important flowers. Several kinds of roses 
are mentioned, including a blue variety that seems to have 





GARDEN, SAO DOMINGOS 


wholly disappeared. The grape and the ivy were the best- 
known vines. Hedges of box, jasmine, and laurel were 
common. 

As the plant material of different parts of a country can 
best be studied in botanical gardens, it is fortunate that 
there are several in Spain and Portugal. The Moors made 


280 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


collections of exotic plants at an early period during their 
occupation. Besides those at Cordova, the distinguished 
botanist Al Shafrath brought together a great variety 
of plants for King Nasr at Cadiz. Much later, Philip II 


inaugurated an arboretum at Aranjuez, and others flour- 


& 
& 





THE HEART OF THE LABYRINTH 


ished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries near 
Barcelona, Seville, and Madrid. At present the most in- 
teresting collections are at Barcelona, Seville, and Valen- 
cia. The severe climate of Madrid is prohibitive. 

The Botanical Garden in Lisbon is one of the finest in 
Europe, partly because the wonderful Portuguese climate 





Linares 


CYPRESS ARCHES, ALCAZAR GARDENS 





THE LIVING MATERIAL 283 





GLORIETA OF ANCIENT CYPRESSES, HORTA 


is particularly favorable to horticulture. A great variety 
of tropical and subtropical plants have come to great per- 
fection there. The Quinta de Monserrate at Cintra was 
laid out like an English park about a hundred years ago, 
and its successive owners have added to the superb collec- 
tion of trees and shrubs planted on the beautiful hillsides. 
There are immense tree-ferns, palms, magnolias, and 
aloes rising above a carpet of well-kept turf. At Coimbra 
is another celebrated Botanical Garden as well as the 
Quinta das Lagrimas, associated with the life and death 
of Inez de Castro, containing some fine old cedars. The 
Cercal de Bussaco includes the grounds of an old monas- 
tery where cypresses, oaks, sea-pines, and cork-trees have 
grown to great size on a hillside watered by lovely moun- 


284 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


tain brooks. There is an abundance of wild flowers every- 
where, and all kinds of plants can be cultivated with the 
minimum amount of effort. 

Both in Spain and in Portugal the design is brought out 
by the planting of evergreens, which remain permanent 
while the flowers come and go in due season. Box edging 
defines the outline of the parterre, and hedges of laurel, 
pittosporum, myrtle, and cypress make perfect back- 
grounds for the blossoming plants and fountains. At E/ 
Laberinto are some especially fine hedges. The chief ac- 
cents are formed by cypresses, or by broad-leaved ever- 
greens clipped into simple pyramidal shapes, and so 
placed as to bring out the rhythm of the pattern. One of 
a pair may be stationed on each side of an entrance. 
Others may be grouped around a pool, lined against a 
high white wall, or set in parallel rows to dignify an 
avenue. ist 

An especially characteristic feature of Spanish gardens 
is a glorieta or arbor constructed by planting a circle of 
cypresses and training them to arch over the centre, leav- 
ing openings between each tree on the sides. Underneath 
this rustic dome are benches and sometimes a fountain. 
This scheme admits of many variations and in one form 
or another is very common. Such a glorieta may take the 
place of its architectural prototype, a little temple, in the 
centre of the cloister-garth. There are good examples in 
the Gardens of the Alcazar, in those at Aranjuez, and on 
the estate of the Conde de Guéll near Barcelona. 





Mas 


TO 


THE END OF A VISTA, EL LABERIN 





A FOUNTAIN IN THE GARDENS AT QUELUZ 


THE LIVING MATERIAL 287 


Labyrinths formed an adjunct to the Moorish pleasure- 
grounds, and undoubtedly were of Oriental origin. The 
plan of one laid out by the Moors in the Alcazar Gardens 
was preserved by Charles V on a tile and built into the 
pavilion he constructed there, where it can still be seen. 
A modern maze in these gardens is not especially interest- 
ing. At El Laberinto the paths of the labyrinth are 
concealed by high cypress hedges, and laid out on a 
scale sufficiently large to justify giving the name to the 
estate. | 

Among the trees frequently used, few are more decora- 
tive than oranges and lemons, with their evergreen foli- 
age, brilliantly colored fruit, and fragrant white flowers. 
Besides being planted in beds they are often pleached 
against walls. The flaming red flower of the pomegranate 
adds a note of vivid color. Another effective broad-leaved 
evergreen is the camellia; it blooms almost all winter 
under favorable conditions. For trimming into standard 
form, mimosas, oleanders, and roses are employed, and 
may be eight or ten feet high. When deciduous trees like 
planes or poplars are planted, their trunks play a part in 
the composition, as in the background of the fountain in — 
the park at Queluz. 

The many different kinds of vines grown on the walls 
are carefully pruned to prevent their becoming too ramp- 
ant. Ivy grows everywhere. Heliotrope climbs up to the 
eaves of houses in Cordova. Jasmine, bougainvillea, and 
allamanda flourish in Seville. Numbers of other trop- 


288 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE GARDENS 


ical and subtropical climbing plants are cultivated in the 
warmer parts of Spain and Portugal. 

Spring is the time to see the gardens at their best. 
Then the ground is covered with flowering iris, anemones, 
and tulips, while the almonds and peaches are masses of 
exquisite pale pink. Since neither annuals nor perennials 
are planted in large quantities or considered of vital im- 
portance compared to the trees and shrubs, the beauty 
of a composition is brought out by the foliage in all 


Seasons. 


THEFEND 


BOOKS OF REFERENCE 





BOOKS OF REFERENCE 


Gardens of the Great Mughals. C. M. Villiers Stuart. 1913. 

History of Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. Ahmed Ibn 
Mohammed Al-Makkari. 

Fitstory of the Moorish Empire in Europe. S. P. Scott. 1904. 

Geschichte der Gartenkunst. Marie Louise Gothein. 1914. 


“Andalusian Gardens and Patios,” Architectural Record, vol. 
64. M.S. and A. Byne. 


Architecture and Applied Arts of Old Spain. August L. Mayer. 
Logi. 


Gothic Architecture in Spain. George Edmund Street, edited 
by G. G. King. 1914. 
Geschichte der Barock in Spanien. Otto Schubert. 1908. 


Historia de la Arquitectura Cristiana Espanola en la Edad 
Media. V. Lamperez y Romea. Two volumes. 1908. 


Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal. By the author of 
Vathek. 1834. 


Fardines de Espana. Santiago Rusifol. 1914. 

Life, Letters, and fournals of George Ticknor. 1909. 
Picturesque Spain. Kurt Hielscher. 1923. 

Spain: a Study of her Life and Arts. Royall Tyler. 1g0g9. 


Spanish Architecture of the Sixteenth Century. Arthur Byne 
and Mildred Stapley. 1917. 


Spanish Details. William Lawrence Bottomley. 1924. 


Spanish Farm-Houses and Minor Public Buildings. Winsor 
Soule. 1924. 


Spanish Ironwork. Arthur Byne. 


292 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 


The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain. Leonard Williams. 1908. 
The Court of Philip IV. Martin Hume. 1907. 


The Spanish fournal of Elizabeth Lady Holland. Edited by the 
Earl of Ilchester. 1910. 


Viaggio fatto in Spagna. Andrea Navagero. 1563. 
Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas. 1882. 

Un Hiver 2 Majorque. George Sand. 1869. 

Lisbon and Cintra. A. C. Inchbold. 

Lissabon und Cintra. Albrecht Haupt. 1913. 
Portuguese Architecture. Walter Crum Watson. 1908. 
Sketches in Portugal. James Edward Alexander. 1835. 


a7 


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INDEX 


Abadia, gardens at, 177. 
Abbas, Shah, his rug, 12-16. 
Abd-ar-Rahman I, first Emir of Cordova, 


30. 

Abd-ar-Rahman III, Emir of Cordova, 
Mule or; 32-35,.2677- 

Abencerrages, the, 465. 

Abn Zacaria Iahia Aben Mohammed 
(Ibn-al-Auwam), 278. 

Abul-Hassan, his wife, 45. 

Acosta, José Rodriguez, gardens of, at 
Granada, Ig1, 192, 268. 

Agra, 21,25. 

Akhenaten, King, 3, 7. 

Akhetaten, built by King Akhenaten, 3; 
gardens at, 3-11; palace at, 7. 

Alameda, villa near Madrid, 178. 

Alamedas, 180-83. 

Alba, Duque de, 160, 177, 242. 

Albuquerque, Affonso de, 227. 

Alcala, Duque de, 158. 

Alcantara, Roman remains, at, 27. 

Alcazar, Seville, 124-30, 132; pavilion, 
245; Pisano’s handiwork in, 246; pave- 
ment, 249; grilles, 255; iron railings, 
256; Moorish influence, 260-63; glorieta, 
284; labyrinth, 287. 

“Alcipe.” See Almeida, Leonor d’. 

Alcobaga, Cistercian Abbey in vicinity of 
Batalha, 229. 

Aldobrandini, Cardinal, 106. 

Alfabia, estate in Majorca, 78-83. 

Alfarras, Marquesa de, 164. 

Alfonso VI, 109. 

Alfonso VIII, 106. 

Algeciras, collection of faience in Hotel 
Reina Cristina, 246. 

Alhambra, the, approach to, 49; courts 
of, 49-54, 57; under Ferdinand and 
Isabella, 122, 123; under Charles V, 123, 
(24; tiles, 242. 

Alhambra Hill, gardens on, 123, 124. 

Almeida, Leonor d’, 200. 

Al-Nazar, 41. 

Al-Shairath, 250. 





Alorna, Marqueza d’, 200. 

Alvares, B., 211. 

Al-Zarkil, astronomer, 36. 

Amicis, Edmondo de, his description of 
patio, 149. 

Andalusia, Moorish influence in, 27-57, 
153; Cordova becomes capital of, 30. 

Andujar, tiles made at, 246, 249. 

Angeles, Los, hermitage of, 238. 

Arabs, conquer Iberian Peninsula, 1, 29; 
pioneers in architectural forms, 2. 

Aranjuez, estate of Spanish Kings, 130, 
132) eCatdens Of 01 30. 40,00204.08 204: 
Florera, 139, 179, 180; the work of suc- 
cessive kings, 139-41; a disastrous féte 
at, 140, 141; statues, 268. 

Arbors, 77, 120, 183, 284. 

Arch, round, horseshoe, and pointed, as 
determinative of style of architecture, 
88. 

Archbishop’s palace, Palma, 62. 

Architecture, in Spain, not the result of 
hard-and-fast rules, 87; styles of, 87, 88. 

Art, renaissance of, in Persia and India, 
19. 

Asia, gardens of, part played by religion 
ine, 

Avila, monastery Santo Tomas, 118. 

Az-Zahra, villa of, 33-35, 267. 

Azeitao, Quinta da Bacalhoa, 227, 272. 


Babur. See Zehireddin Mohammed. 

Bagh-i-Khilan, Kabul, 25. 

Banolas, monastery, 98. 

Banqueri, J. A., 278. 

Barcelona, cathedral of Santa Eulalia, 
102-05, 252; San Cugat del Vallés, 102; 
San Pablo del Campo, 101; San Pedro de 
las Puellas, 98; Santa Ana, 101; Casa 
Gomez, 174; suburbs, 184, 185; tiles 
made at, 246, 249; collection of plants 
at, 280. 

Baroque, the, 88. 

Batalha, Mosteiro de Santa Maria da 
Victoria, 228; Abbey Alcobaga, 229. 


296 


Baths of Maria de Padilla, Seville, 127. 

Bautista, Juan, architect of Philip IT, 132. 

Beckford, William, 272; fétes described 
by; 221,227. 

Belem, Convento dos Feronymos de Belém, 
230.02 3a 

Bellver, Castle of, 65. 

Bemfica, Quinta de Fronteira, 198-211; 
Dominican monastery, 211, 212; Queluz 
de Baixo, 216-22, 272. 

Bendinat, gardens at, 65. 

Benedictine monasteries, 93-109; gardens 
in, 94, 95; type of, 94, 95. 

Benedictines, the, 93. 

Benhabet, Moor, 78. 

Bennasser, Juan, 78. 

Berenguer IV, Ramon, Count of Barce- 
lona, IIT. 

Bibafria, Cintra, 226, 272. 

Blanche de Castile, 127. 

Blasco Ibafiez, his “El Catedral” quoted, 
113. 

“Blossom,” favorite of Emir Abd-ar- 
Rahman III, 33. 

Bottomley, W. L., 45; his “Spanish De- 
tallsteree, 

Braga, stairway at, 228. 

Brazil, Queen and Princess of, 227. 

Bridges, as architectural feature 
gardens, 269. 

Brihuega, garden at, 178. 

Brites, Dona, 227. 

Brown, “Capability,” 163. 

Bufiola, Majorca, 78. 

Burgos, cathedral, 96, 252, 255; Cartuja 
de Miraflores, 118; Monasterio Real de 
las Huelgas, 106; Santo Domingo de 
Silo, 102; Casa de Miranda, 154, 155. 

Burial of the Count of Orgaz, by El Greco, 
in Santo Tomé, Toledo, 189. 

Burnay, Condessa de, 212. 

Bussaco, stairway at, 228; Cercal de, 228, 
DBs 

Byron, Lord, on Portugal, 197. 

Byzantine Empire, 28. 


of 


Cabanas family, 178. 

Caceres, Province of, palace of Fuan de 
Orellana, 155. 

Cadalso, gardens at, 177. 

Cesary J olis# 27 











INDEX 


Caldas da Rainha, 272. 

Calatayud, tiles made at, 246. 

Camoéns, quoted, 204-07. 

Canet, estate in Majorca, 85, 86. 

Capella do Nossa Senhora do Monte, at 
Penha Verde, Cintra, 226. 

Cardona, gardens of Escorial laid out by, 
135. 

Carlota, Infanta, 221. 

Carmelite monasteries, 118. 

Carmelites, the, 118. 

Carthusian monasteries, 118, 

Carthusians, the, 118. 

Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos, 118. 

Carving in patios, 154, 155. 

Casa de Campo, vicinity of Madrid, 132, 
[4 26t4 4) . 

Casa de las Conchas, Salamanca, 154. 

Casa Gomez, Barcelona, 174. 

Casa del Greco, 186-90, 249. 

Casa del Infante (Casa de Arriba), 180. 

Casa de Labrador, Aranjuez, 138, 179. 

Casa de Miranda, Burgos, 154, 155. 

Casa Olea, Seville, 242, 255. 

Casa de Pilatos, Seville, 158-60, 255. 

Casa Provincial de Expésitos, Cordova, 
152. 

Casa de los Rejas de Don Gomes, Cordova, 
LOriers 2, 

Casa del Rey Moro, Ronda, 199, 191. 

Cascada de la Cenador, La Granja, 144-48. 

Casita de Principe (Casita de Abajo) 
Escorial, 180. 

Castilho, Jodo de, architect, 229, 231. 

Castle of Bellver, 65. 

Castro, Francisco de, 211. 

Castro, Inez de, 229,427; 

Castro, Jodo de, 225, 226. 

Catalonia, 98; Gerona, 98; Bafiolas, 98; 
Barcelona, 98. 

Cathedrals: Barcelona, Santa Eulala, 
102, 252; Burgos, 96, 252, 255; Cuenca, 
252, 255; Gerona, 98; Granada, 255; 
Léon, 96, 262; Palenciaess tee oens 
Palma, 62; Pamplona, 251; Plasencias, 
255; Santiago de Campostela, 93; 
Segovia, 255; Seville, 255; Sigienza, 
117, 418, 252; Varraponay goa Omir 
262; Toledo, 113, Itagenges 

Cercal de Bussaco, 228, 283. 

Cervantes, 159. 


INDEX 


Chacon, Juan de, champion of Zoraya, 
45, 46. 

Chardin, Sir John, quoted, 2. 

Charlemagne, 36. 

Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Infanta 
Maria, 142, 143. 

Charles IV, and Casa del Labrador, 138, 
179; other cottages built by, 180. 

Charles V, and the Alhambra, 123; 
fountain erected by, 123; and the 
Alcazar, Seville, 127-30, 287; Roman 
Emperor, 130; last years of, 130, 131; 
and Aranjuez, 130, 140; and E/ Pardo, 
41. 

Chopin, F. F., his dwelling in Majorca, 
20. 

Chosroes I, 12. 

Christian Church, disputes in, 28. 

Christianity, at one time a failure, 28. 

Churches: San Francisco, Palma, 62; 
San Martin, Segovia, 255; San Miguel 
de Linio, Oviedo, 97; San Pablo del 
Campo, Barcelona, 101; San Pedro de 
los Galligans, Gerona, 98; San Pedro 
de las Puellas, Barcelona, 98; Santa 
Ana, Barcelona, 101; Santa Cristina, 
Oviedo, 97; Santo Tomé, Toledo, 189. 

Cintra, 216; Penalonga, 222; Fardin de 
Linderaya, 222-25; Penha Verde, 225, 
226; Bibafria, 226, 272; Setiaes, 226, 
227; Pena, 227; Quinta da Ramalhoa, 
227; Quinta de Monserrate, 228, 283; 
royal palace, 268, 271. 

Cistercian monasteries, 109-14. 

Cistercians, the, 109. 

“City of the Horizon,” 3, 4. See Ak- 
hetaten. 

Clairvaux, monastery, IIo. 

Cloister-garths, a necessity to monas- 
teries, 96; typical form of, in Benedic- 
tine monasteries, 95; in Carthusian 
monasteries, 118; cathedral, Sigtienza, 
Puy mito. cathedral.\Latragona, 111; 
church, San Pablo del Campo, Barce- 
lona, 101; church, San Pedro de los 
Galligans, Gerona, 98; monastery, Las 
Duenas, Salamanca, 119; Escorial, 
135; Monasterio Real, Pedralbes, 109; 
Monastery, Poblet, 112; Valldemosa, 
Majorca, 77; nunnery, San Fuan de la 
Penitencia, Toledo, 114-17; in Portugal, 


297 


268; Convento dos Feronymos de Belém, 
Belem, 230, 231. See Cloisters. 

Cloisters, treatment of arcades of, 88; 
monastic, type of, 95; symbolism of, 
95, 96; decoration of, 96; with secular 
appearance, 161, 162; cathedral of 
Santa Eulalia, Barcelona, 102-05; 
Burgos, 96; Gerona, 97, 98; Léon, 96; 
Santiago de Campostela, 93; Sigtienza, 
117, 118; Tarragona, 96; Toledo, 113; 
church, San Pablo del Campo, Bar- 
celona, 101; San Pedro de los Galligans, 
Gerona, 98; San Pedro de las Puellas, 
Barcelona, 98; Santa Ana, Barcelona, 
tol; Hospital de Senta Cruz, vid; 
Hospital, Santiago de Campostela, 93; 
monastery at Bafolas, 98; Cartuja de 
Miraflores, Burgos, 118; las Duenas, 
Salamanca, 119; at Guadalupe, 120; /as 
Huelgas, Burgos, 106; at Palma, 62; 
Pedralbes, 96, 106-og; at Poblet, 112; 
San Cugat del Vallés, Barcelona, 102; 
Santa Fé, Toledo, 117; Santa Clara, 
Maguer, 10g; Santas Creus, 112; Santo 
Domingo de Silo, Burgos, 102; Santo 
Tomas, Avila, 118, 119; nunnery, San 
Juan de la Penttencia, 114-17; Portu- 
guese, Alcobaca, Batalha, 229; Convento 
dos Feronymos de Belém, Belem, 203, 
231. 

Cluniac monasteries, 109. 

Cluniacs, the, 109. 

Coburg, Ferdinand of, 227. 

Coimbra, Mosteiro de Santa Cruz, 229; 
Botanical Garden, 283; Quinta das 
Lagrimas, 283. 

Colegio de los Irlandeses, Salamanca, 154. 

Colegio de San Gregorio, Valladolid, 154, 
264. 

Color, in Portugal, 197, 198. 

Columbus, 20. 

Comares, tower of, Alhambra, 50. 

Constantinople, 28. 

Continuity, characteristic of Oriental 
civilization, 2. 

Convent of Santa Paula, 246. 

Convento de Christo, Thomar, 229, 230. 

Convento de la Merced, Seville, 156. 

Convento dos Feronymos de Belém, Belem, 
Pero t: 

Cordova, becomes capital of Andalusia, 


298 


30; Court of the Ablutions, 31, 152; 
mosque at, 31, 32, 1$2; Patio de’ los 
Naranjos, 31, 32; suburbs of, 33; 42- 
Zahra, 33-35; patios in, 150; Casa de 
los Rejas de Don Gomes, 151, 152; Casa 
Provincial de Expésitos, 152; poor- 
house, 912; (sfesult: convent,” (153; 
Quinta de Arrizafa, 153; Ermttas de 
Valparaiso, 153; tiles made at, 246; 
collection of faience at, 246; examples of 
well-heads in museum at, 250; pave- 
ments, 256. 

Country-houses, in Majorca, 66-86. 

Court. See Patio. 

Court of the Ablutions, Cordova, 31, 152. 

Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo, gardens of, 


4. 
Cuenca, cathedral, 252, 255. 


Dal Lake, 25. 

De Ribera family, 157. 

Despuig, Cardinal, 67. 

Dominguez, Affonso, builder, 229. 
Dominican monasteries, 118. 
Duenas, Las, Salamanca, 119. 
Duetias, Palacio de las, Seville, 160. 


Farwick, E. B., poem of Sadi, translated 
by, 16-19. : 

Egas, Enrique de, 93, 114. 

Egypt, early civilization of, 3; gardens 
of, 3-11; parks in, 6, 7; conquered by 
Persia. 

Egyptians, 
forms, 2. 

F]-Amarneh, 3. 

Elché, in Valencia, palm-forest of, 30. 

Eleanor of England, 106. 

Emirs, in Iberian Peninsula, 29-35. 

Ermitas de Valparaiso, Cordova, 153. 

Escorial, the, 132-36, 264. 

Escueles Minores, Salamanca, 154. 


Esporlas, Majorca, 83, 85. 


pioneers in architectural 


Fabre, Jayme, designer of cathedral of 
Santa Eulalia, Barcelona, 102. 

Faience, use in gardens, 242-50; Osma 

_ Collection of, in Madrid, 246; other 
collections of, 246-49. See Tiles. 

Farrobo, Conde de, 212. 

Fateh-Billah, 85. 








INDEX 


Ferdinand, Cardinal Infante, 142. 

Ferdinand, King, at the Alhambra, 122, 
123; and Aranjuez, 139. 

Figuera, Lorenzo Suarez de, 139. 

Florentino, Domenico, 119. 

Florera, Aranjuez, 139, 179, 180. 

Flower-pots, use in gardens, 250, 272. 

Flowers in gardens, 274-88. 

Forestier, J. C. N., landscape architect, 
177 OF SOL 1G 2s 

Fountain-house, monastery, Poblet, 112; 
monastery, Santas Creus, 112. 

Fountain-houses, 237-42, 264. 

Franciscan monasteries, 118. 

Franciscan nunnery, 114. 


Gabriel, Infante, 180. 


| Galafré, King, 36. 


Gama, Vasco da, 20, 230. 

“Garden of Fidelity,” Kabul, 22-25. 
“Garden of Gladness,” Kashmir, 25, 26. 
Garden-houses, 260, 264. 


| Gardens, of Asia, part played by religion 


in, 2, 3;4an Egypt, j=1igateakietcens 
3-11; the words for,.in Oriental lan- 
guage, 4; at Thebes, 6; Persian, 11-19, 
274; Indian, 20-26, 273, 274; in Spain, 
Moorish, 31-57; at Cordova, 31, 32; 
Az-Lahra, 33-35; at seville, ey. 
near Toledo, 36; of the Generalife, 42- 
49; of the Alhambra, 49-54; of the 
Cuarto Real de Santo Domingo, 54; 
other vestiges of Moorish, 57; in Ma- 
jorca, 62-86; in Benedictine monas- 
teries, 94; at monastery of Saint Scho- 
lastica, Subiaco, 94; typical form 
in Benedictine monasteries, 94, 95; 
Renaissance pleasure-grounds, 122-48; 
eighteenth-century, 163-83; alamedas, 
180-83; modern, 184-94; modern, are 
idiomatic, 194; Portuguese, 197-229; 
Spanish, typical form of, 232, 233; use 
of water in, 235-42; use of glazed pot- 
tery in, 242-50; use of flower-pots in, 
250; pavements of, 256; walls of, 257, 
258; seats in, 258; architectural features 
of, 259-68; Portuguese, characteristics 
of, 268-72; Eastern, symbolism in, 273, 
274; Spanish and Portuguese, trees and 
plants in, 274-88. See Cloister-garths, 
Patios. 


INDEX 


Gates, 250-56. 

Generalife, the, location and general char- 
acter of, 37, 38; history of, 41; courts of, 
42, 45-47, 57, 241, 249; the Mirador, 
47, 48, 263; grilles, 255. 

Gerona, church of San Pedro de los Galli- 
gans, 98; cathedral, 98. 

Glorieta, the, 77, 120, 183, 284. 

Gothic style, determined by pointed arch, 
88; influence of Cluniacs on, 109. 

Goya, 189. 

Granada, becomes capital, 30; Generalife, 
37-49, 241, 249, 255, 263; Alhambra, 
Po =tdeet7, 122-24, 249; El Parial, 
mosque, 54; gardens of the Cuarto Real 
de Santo Domingo, 54; Villa de los 
Martires, 124, 268; patios, 153; Casa 
Chapaz, 190; gardens of José Rodriguez 
Acosta, Ig1, 192; tiles made at, 246; 
cathedral, 255; pavements, 256. 

Granja, La, north of Madrid, 143-48, 268. 

Granja de Fortuny, La, country-house in 
Majorca, 83-85. 

Greco, Els 189, 230. 

Grosso, Alfredo, painter, 156. 

Guadalajara, Infantado Palace, 154. 

Guadalajara, Province of, 178. 

Guadalete, Battle of, 29. 

Guadalquivir, the, 32. 

Guadalupe, monastery, 119, 264. 

Guéll, Conde de, 184, 284. 


Hafiz, quoted, 26. 

Héloise, Abbess of Paraclet, 106. 

Henry the Navigator, 230. 

Herrera, Juan de, architect of Philip II, 
132, 135; courtyards of University, 
Seville, built by, 155; guest at Casa de 
Pilatos, 159; severely classic style of, 
264. 

Hielscher, Kurt, his “Picturesque Spain,” 


1$¢. 

Holland, Lady, her description of Alcazar 
gardens, Seville, 129; quoted on E/ 
Pardo, 142; on English taste for simplic- 
ity, 163; on gardens at the dlameda, 
178; on alamedas, 180-83. 

Holland, Lord, 180. 

Horta, E/ Laberinto, 164-73, 264, 284, 
287; Casa Gomez, 174; Torre Glories, 174. 

Hospital de Santa Cruz, Toledo, 114, 255. 





299 


Hospital Real, Santiago de Campostela, 
93, 114, 237, 264. 

Hotel de Madrid, Seville, tiles in, 249. 

Hotel Reina Cristina, Algeciras, tiles in, 
246-49. 

Houget, builder, 229. 

Howell, his account of escapade of Charles, 
Prince of Wales, 143. 


Iberian Peninsula, conquered by Mos- 
lems, I, 29; before the conquest, 27-29; 
Roman architectural remains in, 27; 
Moorish rule in, 29. 

Ibn-al-Auwam, 278. 

India, renaissance of art in, 19; gardens 
of, 20-26, 273, 274; symbolism in 
gardens of, 273. 

Infantado Palace, Guadalajara, 154. 

Isabel, Princess, 223. 

Isabella, Queen, 114; at the Alhambra, 
152r 123: 

Ismail, King, 41. 


Jahan, Shah, 25. 

Jahangar Shah, 21. 

Jardim de Linderaya, Cintra, 222-25. 

Fardin de las Estatuas, Aranjuez, 138. 

Fardin de la Isla, Aranjuez, 137, 140. 

Jardin Neo-Classico, 183. 

Fardin de los Pabellones, Aranjuez, 139, 
1794160. 

Fardin del Principe, Aranjuez, 179. 

Fardin de la Reina, Aranjuez, 138, 140. 

Fardines de los Adarbes, in Citadel opposite 
Alhambra, 123. 

Fardines de las Delicias, Seville, 183. 

Jayme I, King, 58, 61, 111; his “Chron- 
icle,’” 78; rewards Torella, 86. 

Jayme II, King, 65, 109. 

Jerusalem, 28. 

Joao I, King, 221-24, 228. 

John XXI, Pope, 78. 

José VI, King, 215. 

¥uan de Orellana, palace of, Province of 
Caceres, 155. 

Juana the Mad, mother of Charles V, 130. 

Julian, Count, invites Arabs to come to 
Iberian Peninsula, 29. 


Kabul, “Garden of Fidelity,” 22-25; 
Bagh-i-Khilan, 25. 


3.00 


Kashmir, gardens at, 25, 26. 
Kashmir, Vale of, 21. 
King, Georgiana Goddard, 102. 


Laberinto, El, Horta, 164-73, 264, 284, 
287. 

Labyrinths, 287. 

Lamengo, stairway at, 228. 

Leon Cathedral, 96, 252. 

Leonora, daughter of Duke of Lancaster, 
wife of King Jodo I, 222. 

Levi, Samuel, 186. 

Lisbon, 198; Sado Domingos, monastery, 
in vicinity of, 199; Zodlogical Gardens, 
in vicinity of, I99, 212; Quinta de 
Fronteira, 198-211, 272; Quinta das 
Laranjeiras, in vicinity of, 212-15, 272; 
Palhava, in vicinity of, 215, 216; Botan- 
ical Gardens, 228, 272, 280. 

London, well-head in Victoria and Albert 
Museum, 250. 

Lullo, Raimondo, martyr, 62, 65, 78. 

Lumiar, Quinta of the Duchess 
Palmella, 228. 


of 


Machuca, Pedro de, architect of Charles 
Veet 

Madrid, Casa de. Campo, 132, 142, 143; 
El Pardo, 130, 141; La Zarzuela, 142; 
La Quinta, 142; Palacio de Liria, 177; 
gardens in the vicinity of, 177, 178; 
Osma Collection of faience in, 246. 

Majorca, Island of, history of, 58-61; 
traces of Aragonese in, 61; conditions of 
nature and climate in, 62; Palma and 
vicinity, 62-65; Pollensa and vicinity, 
66; country-houses in, 66-86; E/ Raxa, 
67-75; Valldemosa, 75-77; Sa Coma, 77; 
Miramar, 77, 78; Alfabia, 78-83; La 
Granja de Fortuny, 83-85; Canet, 85, 86; 
well-heads common in, 256; pavements, 
256; pergolas, 259, 260. 

Malaga, tiles made at, 246. 

Manises, tiles made at, 246. 

Manuel I, King, 227, 229, 230. 

Manuel the Fortunate, King, 223. 

Maria, Infanta, and Charles, Prince of 
Wales, 142, 143. 

Maria II, Queen, 227. 

Marialva, Marquis of, 226. 

Martin, King, 75. 





INDEX 


Maru-aten, suburb of Akhetaten, garden 
at, 7-11. 

Medinaceli, Duque de, 158, 242. 

Mena, Alonso de, sculptor, 123. 

Mendoza, Cardinal Pedro de, 114, 118. 

Mérida, Roman remains at, 27. 

Merya, High-Priest, 6. 

Mirador, of the Generalife, 47, 48. 

Miramar, public pleasure-grounds on 
Montjuich, 185. 

Miramar, country-seat in Majorca, 77, 
Thor 

Moguer, Convento de Santa Clara, 109. 

Mohammed, 28. 

Monasteries, cloisters, type of, 95; gardens 
a necessity to, 96; in nineteenth cen- 
tury, 120, 121; cloisters with secular ap- 
pearance, 161, 162; Benedictine, 93- 
10g; Carmelite, 118; Carthusian, 118; 
Cistercian, 118; Cluniac, 109; Domin- 
ican, 118; Franciscan, 118; Bafiolas, 98; 
Cartuja de Miraflores, Burgos, 118; 
Clairvaux, 110; Las Duefas, Salamanca, 
119; Guadalupe, 119; Jas Huelgas, 
Burgos, 106; Montalegre, 118; Mon- 
serrat, 92; Palma, 62, 65; Pedralbes, 
96, 106, 2s0; Poblet, 1i1,) 112s, oamt 
Gall, 94; Saint Fuste, 130; Saint 
Scholastica, Subiaco, 94; San Cugat del 
Vallés, 102; Santa Clara, Moguer, 109; 
Santa Fé, Toledo, 117, 249; Santas 
Creus, 112; Santo Domingo de Silo, 
Burgos, 102; Santo Tomds, Avila, 118; 
Valldemosa, 75-77, 162; Séo Domingos, 
vicinity of Lisbon, 199; Portuguese, 
O41, 212.-998—38, 

Moncada, Elisenda de, 109. 

Monforte Gardens, Valencia, 268. 

Monocloa, garden at, 177. 

Montalegre, convent, 118. 

Montaner, Quinta Eugenia, 185. 

Montjuich, 185. 

Montpensier, Duke de, 192. 
ontserrat, 91, 92. 

Moorish influence, in Andalusia, 27-57, 


Lea: 

Moorish style, determined by horseshoe 
arch, 88. 

Moors. See Moslems. 


Moslems, conquer Iberian Peninsula, 1, 
29; influence in Andalusia, 27-57; in 


INDEX 


Majorca, 58; reminders of, in Majorca, 
61. 

Moadie sate Cordova, 31,, 32) 1523 at 
Seville, 35; El Partal, 54. 

Mostetro de Santa Maria da Victoria, 
Batalha, 228. 
Mughals, Great, 
tombs of, 25. 

Muhammed Shah, 16. 

Murillo Gardens, Seville, 193, 194. 

Musa, head of Moorish army, 29. 

Museo Provincial (Convento de la Merced), 
Seville, 156. 


gardens ‘of, 20-25; 


Nature, adored as divine manifestation, 3. 

Navegero, Venetian traveller, 38, 49. 

New York, Hispanic Museum, gate pre- 
served in, 255. 

Nunnery, San Fuan de la Penitencia, 
Toledo, 114-17. 


Oca, Palacio Camerosa, 237, 241. 

Oca, Province of Oviedo, 178, 179. 

Omar Khayyam, 26. 

Oriental civilization, characterized by 
continuity, 2. 

Osuna, Duchess of, 178. 

Oviedo, churches, ninth-century, 97; 
churches near, San Miguel de Linio and 
Santa Cristina, 97. 

Oviedo, Province of, 178, 179. 


Padilla, Maria de, favorite of Pedro the 
Criciat 27. 

Palace, Infantado, Guadalajara, 154; of 
Fuan de Orellana, Province of Caceres, 
Ts. 

Palaces, at Seville, 158-61. 

Palacio Camerosa, Oca, 237, 241. 

Palacio de las Duerias, Seville, 160, 161. 

Palacto de Galiana, Toledo, 36. 

Palacio de Liria, 177. 

Palencia, cathedral, 251, 255. 

Palhavé, vicinity of Lisbon, 215, 216. 

Palma, Island of Majorca, and vicinity, 
cathedral, 62; Archbishop’s palace 
with garden, 62; church of San Fran- 
cisco with monastery, 62, 65; Bellver, 
65; Bendinat, 65; Terreno, 65, 66. 

Palmella, Quinta of the Duchess of, 
Lumiar, 228. 











301 


Pamplona, cathedral, 251. 

“Paradises,” Egyptian, 4, 7; Persian, 11, 
12, 22, 25; in monastic cloisters, 96. 
See Gardens. 

Parad, Hi, 30, 141, 142; 

Parks, in Egypt, 6, 7. 

Parque Guéll, Pedralbes, 184. 

Parque de Maria Luisa, Seville, 192. 

Partal, El, mosque, 54. 

Paseo de las Delicias, Seville, 183. 

Patio, described, 149, 150; Alfabia, 78- 
83; de la Alberca (de los Arrayanes), 
Alhambra, 49, 50; de los Cipreses (de 
la Reja), Alhambra, 53; de Daraxa, 
Alhambra, 51; de los Leones, Alhambra, 
50; de la Acequia, Generalife, 42; 
de los Cipreses, Generalife, 45; del 
Fuente Rotundo, Generalife, 47; de los 
Evangelistas, Escorial, 135; de la Granja 
de Fortuny, Majorca, 83; Hospital 
Real, Santiago de Campostela, 114; 
de Maria de Padilla, Seville, 156, 
157; de los Naranjos, Cordova, 
31, 32, 152; de los Naranjos, Seville, 
35; El Raxa, Majorca, 67. 

Patios, in Cordova, 151-53; in Granada, 
153; carving in, 154, 155; at Guadala- 
jara, 154; at Salamanca, 154; at Valla- 
dolid, 154; at Burgos, 154; at Seville, 
155-61; in Portugal, 268. 

Pavements, 256. 

Pavilions, 264. 

Pedralbes, Monasterio Real, 96, 106, 250; 
Parque Guéll, 184. 

Pedro, Dom, ex-Emperor of Brazil, 212. 

Pedro, King, 229. 

Pedro the Cruel, and Maria de Padilla, 
127, 186. 

Pena, Gintta, 227. 

Penalonga, Cintra, 222. 

Penha Verde, Cintra, 225, 226. 

Pergolas, at A/fabia, 82; at La Granja de 
Fortuny, 84; feature of gardens, 260. 
Persia, Egypt conquered by, 11; gar- 
dens of, 11-19, 274; renaissance of art 

in, 19. 

Persian poets and painters, 16, 26. 

Persian rugs, 12-16. 

Persians, pioneers in architectural forms, 


2. 
| Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 223. 


302 


Philip II, at Toledo, 113, 114; his love of 
nature, 131, 132, 136, 268; and the Es- 
corial, 132-36; and Aranjuez, 136, 140; 
and E/ Pardo, 141; and Casa de Campo, 
142; and the Quinta da Bacalhoa, 227; 
crowned King of Portugal, 230; inau- 
gurates arboretum, 280. 

Philip III, and Aranjuez, 140; and El 
Pardo, 142. 

Philip IV, and gardens of Alcazar, 
seville, 127; and Aranjuez, 138, 140, 
141; and E/ Pardo, 141, 142; and Casa 
de Campo, 142. 

Philip V, and gardens of Alcazar, Seville, 
127; and La Granja, 144. 

Philip le Beau, 50. 

Philip of Hapsburg, 130. 

Philippa of Lancaster, 228. 

Piedrafita, gardens at, 177. 

Pinedas family, 160. 

Pisano, Niccola, 245, 246. 

Plants in gardens, 274-88. 

Plasencia, cathedral, 255. 

Plateresque style, 88. 

Poblet, Cistercian monastery, III, 112, 
264. 

Pollensa, Island of Majorca, 66. 

Portugal, wealth of color in, 197, 198. 

Pottery, glazed, use in gardens, 242-50. 
See Faience, Tiles. 

Puerta del Perdén, Cordova, 31. 


Queluz de Baixo, vicinity of Bemfica, 216- 
29,0072, 

Quinta da Bacalhoa, Azeitao, 227, 272. 

Quinta das Lagrimas, Coimbra, 283. 

Quinta das Laranjeiras, vicinity of Lisbon, 
De Ss Meg ig OE 

Quinta de Arrizafa, Cordova, 153. 

Quinta de Fronteira, Lisbon, 198-211, 272. 

Quinta de Monserrate, Cintra, 228, 283. 

Quinta de Ramalhoa, Cintra, 227. 

Quinta Eugenia, Montaner, 186. 

Quinta of the Duchess of Palmella, 
Lumiar, 228. 

Quintas, in vicinity of Toledo, 190. 


Raxa, El, country-seat in Majorca, 67-75. 

Rejas. See Screens. 

Religion, part played by, in gardens of 
Asia,°2, 3: 


INDEX 


Renaissance, Italian, influence on archi- 
tecture, 88. 

Renaissance pavilion, of Charles V, 123. 

Roderick, King, defeated, 29. 

Romanesque style, distinguished by 
round arch, 88. 

Romans, in Iberian Peninsula, 27; archi- 
tectural remains of, in Iberian Penin- 
sula, 27. 

Romanticists, the, 163. 

Ronda, alameda at, 183; Casa del Rey 
Moro, 190, 191. 

Roussillon, Count of, 78, 85, 86. 

Rugs, Persian, 12-16. 

Rusifiol, Sefior, pictures of, 137, 139, 183. 


Sa Coma, manor-house in Majorca, 77. 

Sadi, poems quoted, 16-19, 26. 

Saint Anthony, 93. 

Saint Benedict, 93, 94. 

Saint Bernard, 109, 110. 

Saint Bruno, 118. 

Saint Gall, monastery, 94. 

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 88. 

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, 92. 

Saint James the Greater, visited Spain, 
93; his relics, 93. 

Saint Fuste, monastery, 130. 

Saint Peter, visited Spain, 93. 

Saint-Priest, Compte de, 200. 

Saint Scholastica, monastery, Subiaco, 94. 

Saint Sophia, 28. ; 

Salamanca, Las Duewias, 119; Casa de las 
Conchas, 154; Colegio de los Irlandeses, 
154; Escueles Minores, 154; University, 
ans 

Salvator, Archduke Ludwig, 66, 77, 78. 

San Cugat del Vallés, near Barcelona, 102. 

San Francisco, church, Palma, 62. 

San Fuan de la Penitencia, Toledo, 114-17. 

San Martin, church of, Segovia, 255. 

San Miguel de Linio, church of, near 
Oviedo, 97. 

San Pablo del Campo, church of, Bar- 
celona, IOI. 

San Pedro de las Puellas, church of, Bar- 
celona, 98. 

San Pedro de los Galligans, church of, 98. 

Sancho, King, 75. 

Sand, George, her dwelling in Majorca, 
76, 162; on her garden, 76. 


INDEX 303 


Santa Ana, church of, Barcelona, tot. 

Santa Cristina, church of, near Oviedo, 97. 

Santa Eulalia, cathedral, Barcelona, 102, 
oh2) 

Santas Creus, monastery, 112, 264. 

Santo Domingo de Silo, monastery of, 
near Burgos, 102. 

Santiago de Campostela, cathedral, 93; 
Hospital Real, 93, 114, 237, 264. 

Santo Tomds, Avila, 118. 

Santo Tomé, Toledo, 189. 

Sao Domingos, monastery, vicinity of 
Lisbon, 199. 

Sarria, 185. 

Sarry, Count, 83. 

Scteens, 250-50. 

Seats in gardens, 258. 

Sebastiao, King, 224. 

. Segovia, Roman remains at, 27; La 
Granja, 143-48; cathedral, 255; church 
of San Martin, 255. 

Setiaes, Cintra, 226. 

Setubal, 227. 

Seville, becomes capital, 30; under rule of 
Abd-ar-Rahman III, 32; Patio de los 
Waranjos, 35 Alcazar, 124—30,. See 
Alcazar; University, 155; los Venera- 
biles, 155, 249, 256; Museo Provincial 
(Convento de la Merced), 156; Patio de 
Maria de Padilla, 156, 157; Casa de 
Pilatos, 158-60, 255; Palacio de las 
Duefias, 160, 161; alameda at, 183; 
Fardines de las Delicias, 183; Parque de 
Maria Lutsa, 192, 193; Murillo Gardens, 
193, 194; Casa Olea, 242, 255; tiles made 
at, 246; collection of faience at, 246, 
249; well-heads made at, 250; cathedral, 
255; collection of plants at, 280. 

Shalimar Bagh, Kashmir, 25. 

Sierra Morena, 33. 

Sigiienza, cathedral, 117, 118, 252. 

Son Antich, 66. 

Son Berga, 66. 

Son Heretat, 66. 

Soule, Winsor, his “Spanish Farm-Houses 
and Minor Public Buildings,” 155. 

Southey, Robert, 226. 

“Spring Carpet,” of Chosroes I, 12. 

Staél, Madame de, 200. 

Statuary, wooden, 184; use in gardens, 
267, 268. 





Stone-work, carved, Portuguese, 272. 

Street, George Edmond, his ‘“‘Account of 
Gothic Architecture in Spain,” quoted, 
102-05. 

Stuart, Mrs. Villiers, her “The Gardens 
of the Great Mughals,” 21, 273. 

Subiaco, monastery of Saint Scholastica, 


94. 
Symbolism, in gardens, 273, 274. 


Taj-Mahal, 15,.20, 21, 25. 

Talavera, Juan, 194. 

Talavera de la Reina, tiles made at, 246, 
249. 

Tanks, use of, in gardens, 236. 

Tarifa, Marqués, 158. 

Tarragona, cathedral, 96, 110, 111, 252. 

Temples, miniature, 264. 

Terreno, 65, 66. 

Thebes, gardens at, 6. 

Theotocopulo, Dominico, 189. 

Thomar, Convento de Christo, 229, 230. 

Ticknor, George, his description of play- 
ing of fountains at La Granja, 147, 
148. 

Tiles, polychrome, 156, 159, 192; use in 
Spanish gardens, 242; types of, 242-49; 
in Portuguese gardens, 271, 272. See 
Faience. 

Toledo, becomes capital, 35; regal villas 
near, 36; Councils of, 98; cathedral, 
113, 114, 252; Hospital de Santa Cruz, 
114, 255; nunnery of San Fuan de las 
Penitencia, 114-17; Convento de Santa 
Fé, 117, 249; Casa del Greco, 186-90, 
249; Santo Tomé, Burial of the Count of 
Orgaz in, 189; Quintas in vicinity of, 
190; tiles made at, 246; well-heads made 
at, 250; examples of well-heads in Mu- 
seum at, 250. 

Tombs, of the Great Mughals, 25; in 
cloisters, 96. 

Torella, Bernard de Santa Eugenia de, 86. 

Torre Glories, Horta, 174. 

Trees, in gardens, 274-88. 

Triano, tiles made at, 246, 249. 


University, Seville, 155; Salamanca, 255. 
Ushs27, 


| Valencia, palm-forest of Elché, 30; Glort- 


304 


eta, 183; fardin Neo-Classico, 183; tiles 
made at, 246, 249; Monforte Gardens, 
268; collection of plants at, 280. 

Valladolid, Colegio de San Gregorio, 154, 
264. 

Valldemosa, estate with monastery in 
Majorca, 75-77, 118, 162. 

Vandals, in Iberian Peninsula, 27, 28; in 
Majorca, 58. 

Vega Inclan, Marqués de la, 190. 

Velasquez, picture of Philip at E/ Pardo, 
142; his paintings, 189. 

Venerabiles, Los, Seville, 155, 249, 256. 

Viano family, 151. 

Vidrios, Los, gardens, 177. 

Villa de los Martires, Granada, 124, 268. 

Villa Mediana, Count de, 141. 

Villanueva, Juan de, architect, 180. 

Villena, Marqués de, 186. 

Visigoths, in Iberian Peninsula, 1, 28, 97; 





INDEX 


in Majorca, 58; their style of architec- 
Lure 607- 


Walls of gardens, 257, 258. 

Water, varied use of, 57; use in gardens, | 
235-49; 272. 

Well-heads, 250. 

Winthuysen, Javier de, 177. 

Wooden statuary, 184. 

Woodwork, use, in patios, 153. 

Wrought-iron work, use in cathedrals and 
gardens, 250-56. 


Ximenes, Cardinal, 117. 
Yusuf I, 49. 
Zehireddin Mohammed (Babur),20—22,25. 


Ziryab, scholar and musician, 32. 
Zoraya, story of, 45, 46. 








wna 


3 312 





—— 


of 





